Titans Zero
by spystory007
Summary: When a dangerous international arms dealer sets up shop in Jump City, a top secret spy unit must join forces with the Teen Titans. But a straight forward mission becomes more complicated as relationship grow between the two teams. Sequel up! raexoc bbxoc
1. Prologue

This will hopefully be the first installment in a planned series, well here goes nothing I guess.

Disclaimer: I do not own the teen titans or anything else. I only own the members of Unit Zero and "The Salesmen"

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Prologue

The inside of the warehouse was a dark and primarily abandoned building that, although it was not in use, was littered with boxes and crates all around the large building. There wasn't a person around and the only noise was made by the scurrying of rodents. But suddenly that empty silence was shattered as the doors were blown open, and a small army of SWAT and tactical soldiers invaded the building.

They swarmed through the building, illuminating the previously dark areas with the flashlights attached to their automatic weapons and continued to break the silence with shouts of "CLEAR!"

They continued to search the large warehouse, checking every corner and possible hiding spot for any hostile opposition. They all wore dark tactical clothing with black ski masks and all looked uniform and identical, except for one. He was dressed similarly, only he wore no mask, leaving his facial features completely exposed.

He was young, and if anyone knew him well enough they would know he was no more than 20 years old. But he looked older, and when you looked into his eyes you could tell that he had seen things that no one his age should see. His hair was a dark brown and his eyes a deep blue. His body was muscled and well built underneath the tactical gear, and he was handsome enough to have any girl he wanted. He surveyed the room around him with a cold professional stare and didn't react at all when a SWAT officer reported into his earpiece "All clear sir."

He activated the radio receiver attached to his Kevlar vest and said in a professional manner, with a hint of disappointment, "This is Garret. We've swept the place and its all clear, no sign of the salesmen or his product. What now?"

A feminine voice spoke into his earpiece this time saying, "Okay John pull out of there, we'll have the SWAT boys sweep the place in case we missed anything. We've got other leads to follow."

The John nodded in agreement and followed it up with a "Roger. Return to base." He released the button on his receiver and made his way out the nearest exit in the warehouse, cradling his MP5 sub-machine gun in his arms in a disappointed manner. John Garret was a Federal agent and him and his team had recently acquired Intel that a major international arms dealer had set up operations in this city, Jump City. Every agency the United State government could offer was involved in this sting operation, and they had come up with nothing.

_Oh well. _He thought _there are still more leads, we aren't through searching for this bastard yet._

He had continued walking when he started hearing things in his earpiece from the SWAT officers assigned to search the various crates in the warehouse and had so far come up with nothing, until he heard one of them say, "Well well well, I think we got something…"

John put his finger to his earpiece and listed intently.

"Yeah command this is Alpha 1; we just found a stack of C4 in a crate that was otherwise filled with old 70's clothing, we're gonna hand this… What the hell?" That last part got John's attention. "HOLY SHIT!! ONE'S ACTIVE! RUN RUN RU…" He never got the chance to finish his sentence.

John didn't have time to turn around before the entire east wing of the warehouse exploded, sending bits and pieces of brick and glass everywhere. John was caught by shock wave and was knocked off his feet and landed face first into the cold pavement. His ears ringing, it took John a little while before he fully realized what had happened.

What had happened was that the crate the SWAT officers had discovered was indeed a cache of C4 explosives, only one had been armed the entire time and remotely triggered by someone outside the building. That someone had left a trap for his pursuers. That someone had been tipped off about the raid.

John waited until his ears stopped ringing and his senses were fully returned when he reactivated the receiver and said, "This is Garret… The Salesmen is in town… and he knew we were coming…" he waited a few minutes before stating what he knew the powers that be already realized, "We have a leak."

"Dear God…" the female voice in his earpiece said, "John get your ass back to base, we need a new plan."

"Yeah, a new plan that doesn't involve any federal security agency," John stated as he stared into the flames of the east wing and what hand remained of his SWAT companions. "This was an inter-agency investigation; the leak could have come from anywhere… Who's reliable in local law enforcement?"

"The local police are virtually useless," the voice replied, "But there is a local hero group called the Teen Titans who come highly recommended."

John got back onto his feet and surveyed the destruction once more before saying, "Then it's about time we met, because we have no one else. We need the Teen Titans."


	2. The Message

Here's chapter 2. I should have chapter 3 up pretty soon, so keep on reading and reviewing. enjoy.

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So far, it was an ordinary day for the Teen Titans. It began uneventfully with the team waking up early and then Cyborg and Beast Boy going through their usual routine of meat vs. tofu. Then moved on to morning work out and training in the tower's considerable gym. And they were currently fighting Cinderblock who, unsurprisingly, had escaped yet again from jail.

Yep, all was well in the world of the Titans. Ever since their mission in Tokyo and the downfall of the Brotherhood of Evil everything had gone back to normal, or at least as normal as you can get with the Titans. Slade had all but disappeared and the other titans had returned to their respective countries and homes. And, although none would admit it, life for the young group of heroes had become monotonous and even dull. Even the fight with Cinderblock only served as déjà vu for the Titans, leaving them feel as if they had fought the same fight everyday.

Robin stood tall with his staff extended and shouted his commanding trademark, "Titans go!"

The titans leapt forward and immediately hit Cinderblock hard with a strong first wave of attacks. The fight would have been over quickly if Cinderblock hadn't learned a few things from his previous defeats. Cinderblock dodged the attacks with surprising agility and struck back at his attackers. Hurling a nearby parked car at the Titans and causing them to scatter in different directions and were immediately caught off guard by the sudden change in tactics.

Cinderblock rushed at Robin and hit him hard enough to knock him to the other side of the city square. Robin shook his head and put himself back into the fight. Cinderblock was paying attention; the Titans were too bored to see it coming. "Get your minds back in the fight Titans!" Robin ordered, correcting his own mistake. "Cyborg, Raven hit him from the right. Star, BB hit him from the left."

Robin got back up and was about to rush back into the fight when a man stepped in front of him and blocked his path. He was tall and wearing jeans, a black t-shirt, and a thin jacket with the hood up masking his face. "A moment of your time friend?" was all he asked.

Robin at first mistook him for a fan that wanted his autograph and was about to side step him when he said, "I have an offer I think you will find interesting." At the mention of his offer Robin noticed a friendly grin beneath the veil of the hood and Robin could instantly tell this guy was no fan boy.

"Who are you and what do you want?" Robin asked being quick to the point and all the while his right hand slowly went to his belt where an extra staff was waiting to meet the outside of this potential enemies head.

"I'm afraid I'm not at liberty to say who I am now…" the man said as he looked up and revealed more of his face to the Titan. He was a handsome young man who looked older than he truly was and Robin could only guess his age as a few years older then he was. "But I can tell you this," He continued, "I don't want to harm you or your team in any way, I just want to talk."

He must have realized that Robin was going for his staff. Impressive.

Before Robin could ask another question the man stepped forward and tossed a piece of folded paper into the air that Robin instinctively caught. "Meet me at this address at midnight with your team; I will reveal more about myself and my offer there." The man said and then turned to walk away.

"Wait!" Robin shouted. But before he could pursue the man he heard someone call out: "Hey Robin!"

Robin turned to see Beast Boy yelling at him. "Quit day dreaming and help us out already!"

Robin looked back to find the man but he had already disappeared into an alleyway and had probably already disappeared into the heart of the city by now. Robin raised an eye brow in curiosity and then turned back to the fight at hand, his team needed him. He quickly grabbed his staff from his belt, extended it, and charged into battle. The mystery man and his piece of paper would have to wait.

All the while the titans fought, a figure in a hooded jacket watched from afar. He lowered his hood to reveal his full face and watched as he assessed the combat capabilities of the Teen Titans. He produced a cell phone, dialed a number quickly into the phone, and then pressed it to his ear. He waited until a strong male voice answered that he said, "Message has been delivered, I'll meet you at the meeting point."

"Good" the voice said, "Do you really think they'll show John?"

"I know they'll come." John replied. He knew the voice on the other end well, he was his partner and he usually had more faith in him. "I've read his file and know what will peak his interest, and I think I got to him." He continued to watch the Titans fight; he had read all of their files. He knew all about them. But the one in the blue cloak, Raven he remembered, always caught his eye. And when her hood fell down accidentally after being knocked back by Cinderblock, he saw her completely. He saw her violet hair and deep matching eyes. He quickly pulled himself out of the stare and back into his conversation. "Just meet me there Dan, it'll all work out" he ordered, "Trust me."

He hung up the phone and put it back into his pocket. He took one last look down at the Titans before departing. He knew they wouldn't refuse. After all, it was a matter of national security.


	3. United We Stand

"So let me get this straight," Cyborg immediately asked the moment the Titans had arrived back at the tower after defeating Cinderblock and after Robin revealed to them the note. "Some guy just waltzed up to you, gave you an address to some bar in the middle of town, said he had an offer for all of us at midnight, and then just disappeared into the city?"

Robin nodded his head. "Yeah that's pretty much it." He replied.

"No death threats, no cryptic clues, not even a name?" Beast Boy asked this time.

Robin shook his head. "All he said was that he had an offer then he walked away." He elaborated. Robin was both puzzled and intrigued at the mysterious man and the note. If he didn't suspect a trap he would have whole heartedly recommended going, but he just wasn't sure what to do now.

"Perhaps this person is a fellow hero who wishes to join us." Starfire reasoned. She, like the rest of the team, was curious at this offer. And Star being Star, saw this mystery man as a new potential friend.

"Sorry Star but I doubt that." A monotone voice stated soberly. Raven had been listening the whole time but hadn't offered any advice on the matter, until now that is. "He didn't stick around to talk to us. Which means one of two things: 1. he's setting us up for a trap," she paused as she thought out her next answer. "Or he wanted to tell us something that he didn't feel comfortable saying out in the open."

"Or he's a spy for Slade." Robin said. Slade was always number one in Robin's most wanted list, but he got the feeling that this guy wasn't involved with Slade or else he would have struck while he had the chance. "Or he could be anybody," he said, finally admitting he knew nothing about this guy. "I guess the only way to find out is to go."

A brief and uncomfortable silence fell about the living room of the Titan's Tower. The silence remained for a few minutes before they all looked at each other and realized that they already knew what to do. They didn't trust this offer, but they were all dying for some real action and excitement in their lives. "Alright," Robin finally decided, "Let's go."

They knew the place mentioned in the address. It was an old fashioned bar in the middle of the city. It wasn't exactly the most popular place in town but it was well liked by those who went there and made a decent amount of money. It was a wide building that rose up to two stories and had a large neon sign that shined "Joe's Pub" above the large double doors in front. There was a sign in the window of the right door that said closed, but the Titans knew better, and walked into the bar through the unsurprisingly unlocked doors.

Inside there were various tables spread about the large inside of the bar with all the chairs piled on top of them except for two. One of the tables had a handsome young man Robin immediately recognized as the one who passed him the note. The other table was being occupied by a young woman who looked no older than Beast Boy and was about eighteen.

Her hair was long and blonde and tied back into a pony tail that ran down to in between her shoulder blades. She wore a blue sleeveless t-shirt and a denim jacket with jeans. She was beautiful, but unlike John, the man who delivered the note, didn't look older than she was, and didn't look as if she had seen 'too much'.

Robin also noticed that someone was standing behind the bar directly to the right of John. He was tall and muscular with the look of a body builder and Robin could tell he'd seen his share of fights, fights he most likely won. He was wearing khaki's and a long sleeve black shirt that clung to his intimidating body. He was slowly sipping at a glass that Robin could only guess contained a clear form of alcohol, and it did. But this second man was a professional who knew what kind of visitors they would be having, so the drink was so watered down that it couldn't get a five year old drunk.

"Take a seat, please." John said as he offered the chair directly across from him at the table.

"Only if your friend over there shows gets rid of what he's packing." Cyborg interrupted. The man behind the bar was surprised and tried to not look like it as he cautiously eyed John. John nodded at him and the bar man brought up from behind the bar a frag grenade, and laid it down on top of the table.

"And the other one…" Cyborg commanded again, and this time the bar man reluctantly laid down onto the bar top a SPAS-12 combat shotgun.

"You said you didn't want to hurt us." Robin said venomously at John across from him. He should have seen it coming, but they hid their weapons well. Thank God for Cyborg's robotic eye.

John shrugged before saying, "Trust no one, that is the number one rule of my profession." He then motioned to the other Titans as he continued, "And, no offense, if we didn't bring weapons then we would be at a disadvantage if we truly couldn't trust you."

Robin sat down reluctantly into the chair in front of him and across from John. "So," he said, "What is your profession? Who are you? And above all, what is so important that we have to meet here at midnight?"

"I'm glad you asked that." John replied as he reached down beside his chair and was about to pull it up and place it onto the table when he noticed that the Titans had become edgy at his movements. "Relax," he said as he slowly placed a briefcase on top of the table, opened it, and then showed the inside to the Titans to reveal nothing more than papers and folders, "Nothing sinister."

He spun the briefcase back around so it faced him and then slowly extended his hand to Robin, "My name is John, I work for the CIA, and for now that is all you need to know as far as I go." Robin looked at his hand then back at him before cautiously shaking it, he seemed nice enough, and if he was with the government then he definitely wasn't an enemy. He hoped.

"I'm…" Robin began but was quickly cut off.

"No need to introduce yourself Robin I know a lot about you and your team." John said as he named off each of the Titans before him. "Cyborg, Beast Boy, Starfire, and Raven correct?" They all nodded as he motioned to his friends. "This is Sarah," he said as he motioned to the girl to his right, "And this is Dan." He said as he motioned to the heavily armed bartender. "You must forgive him for the weapons, he's a little paranoid."

Sarah and Dan didn't say anything, they didn't need to, John did the talking right now. But it was Sarah who caught the eyes of a certain green Titan. He couldn't help but admire her figure or her deep hazel eyes. He couldn't help but stare and turned away suddenly and awkwardly when she felt his eyes on her and looked at him, he tried to keep himself from blushing. _Why do I always go for the blondes?_ He thought.

"And as for why I'm here, there is no easy way to say this so I'm just going to say it; your country needs your help." John said, his previously friendly persona replaced by a more professional one that knew just what was at stake. The Titans stared at him as he continued, "Have you ever heard of 'The Salesmen'?"

"Ya," Beast Boy said jokingly, "He goes from door to door selling vacuums and stuff right?" He would have continued if not for Raven's elbow in his ribs.

John ignored Beast Boy as he continued, "'The Salesmen' is an international criminal who we believe has recently set up shop in your city."

"One guy doesn't sound too bad…" Robin said, doubting that he or his team was needed to bring down one man.

"This guy is different," John continued, "He is perhaps the most wanted international criminal, second only to Osama Bin Laden." He paused for a moment while he removed a folder and opened it, turning it around for the Titans to see it. It was filled with reports, small news paper articles, and photographs. "He's an arms dealer, and a damn good one at that. He first showed up a few years ago and we didn't see him as a credible threat. But now he has a vast criminal organization that spans nearly every continent with contacts and buyers all over the world."

Robin was beginning to rethink what he just said.

"His organization not only sells weapons to rogue nations and terrorists but also specializes in information trafficking, drug trafficking and protection, kidnapping, extortion, and high profile robberies and assassinations." John flipped through the pages in the folder and removed three and laid them before the Titans. "A oil company executive, the owner of a white slavery ring, and a Romanian mobster. All executed through different means, and we have reason to believe that 'The Salesmen' supplied the hit men for each man."

He removed another two pages and left them in front of the Titans for them to read. "We also believe that he has been responsible for a steady flow of weapons into Columbia, the Congo, and other high profile war zones over the years." He paused to let them all read the pages in front of them. "This guy has been responsible for the murder of thousands, and worse yet he has always been one step ahead of us. We thought we had him the Congo but by the time our military force showed up at his hide out to detain him he had already disappeared to here, Jump City."

"When we realized that he was in an American city we let our bosses know and immediately every major federal agency was involved with our investigation. We moved in on a warehouse that we believed housed him and a large weapons cache but…" He paused as he laid down a picture of a burning dilapidated warehouse in front of them, and then continued, "He knew we were coming and trapped the place, several officers were killed."

Cyborg gave a low whistle as John continued. "And it gets worse. He knew we were coming that night. He was tipped off, and the leak could have come from any where due to the fact that the powers that be made this a inter-agency investigation. So we can't continue the investigation with the help of our federal friends. We need to rely on the resources of someone who wasn't involved in the raid. Someone local, you all to be exact."

"Why didn't you tell me this before in the morning?" Robin asked.

"Because, according to the U.S. government, we don't exist." John said, "Our unit is so secret that our identities are always masked, even in the presence of our federal allies. Very few people on this earth even know who we truly are, the rest know us by false I.D.'s. No one was to know about this meeting, this way there is deniability."

He waited and let it all sink in to the Titans. "Your country needs your help to bring a dangerous criminal to justice. We don't know why he's here or what he wants but he is here and we have an opportunity to stop him. But we can't do it without you. Nothing that goes on here with us is beyond your control, you can walk out that door and you would never see or hear from us again, but without you the chances of us catching the bastard go down. So, will you help us?"

Robin turned back to his team who whispered to each other what they should do. Eventually Robin turned back to John and said, "If you need our help you got it."

John and the others smiled, and he said, "Good we'll get started first thing in the morning!"


	4. Morning Memories

The Titans spent the rest of the night getting to know their new room mates, and although they kept many aspects of their lives and history a secret, they told them enough to keep them satisfied. They were called Unit Zero. Their names were John Garret, Sarah Ashwood, and Dan Holiday (although whether or not those were their real names was unknown.). And they also spent most of the night moving in technical equipment and a lot of weapons into their new HQ.

Starfire noticed this small stockpile of weapons and commented, "With such weapons at hand, one would think you were going to war."

Dan, who was at the moment assembling a rifle, was the only one who replied, "We are at war. Too bad the world doesn't know about it." After that both teams went to sleep in their rooms, with Unit Zero taking up 3 guest rooms.

The Titans always woke up early, but it always followed a certain order. Robin was first, then Raven (even though she wouldn't make herself known for another hour or so), then Starfire, and finally Beast Boy and Cyborg. That new morning was no different for Robin who wanted to check the Titan computer for any information he could find on this "Salesmen" character. He woke up at six in the morning, changed into a new fresh outfit, then walked into the living room and was surprised to see Dan sitting at the kitchen table in similar attire as last night with his combat boot feet placed on top of the table like he owned the place and reading the newspaper.

"You always up this early?" Robin asked as he walked up next to the table and catching Dan's attention.

Dan looked up from the paper and spoke for the first time to Robin saying, "No, I just got back from the jungles of the Congo and sense I was in enemy territory I usually only got an hour or two of sleep." He shrugged like it was nothing. "Old habits right man?"

He folded the newspaper and handed it over to Robin, the front page news was of a car bombing of a orphanage in Iraq. "World's going straight to fucking hell… am I right?" Dan said as he stood up from the chair and offered it to Robin. "I should know, I'm the guy who tries to make a difference, but in the end it just seems like we're accomplishing shit."

Robin took up the paper and asked, "So why do you keep trying to make a difference?"

He shrugged before he replied with a laugh, "Because the world's always been going to hell, and I'm only trying to make a difference because I'd follow my fearless leader into fucking oblivion if I had too."

"You trust him that much?"

"Of course I do!" Dan said back in an almost offended manner. "John's like a brother to me. Seven years I've known him and not once has he eve done anything to bring harm to me or Sarah or anyone else who wasn't on our side! Man's a natural fucking leader he is."

Robin ignored his swearing and asked, "So when does he get up? Or is he already out and about somewhere?"

Dan shook his head and replied, "Nah, John's different than me. Goes to sleep the moment his head hits the pillow and wakes up whenever he feels like it… Or unless someone has a gun to his head, in which case he wakes up fairly fucking quickly." He paused for a minute before he inquired, "Speaking of which, why in the hell are you up so early?"

"I was going to do some more research on 'The Salesmen'." Robin answered truthfully as he laid the newspaper back down.

Dan pulled up a chair and sat down across from Robin and said helpfully, "Then ask away at me, I know that sorry bastard's file like the back of my hand."

The others woke up a few minutes later while Dan answered any of Robin's questions regarding "The Salesmen". Sarah entered the room and said hello to both Robin and Dan as she began going through the cabinets looking for some breakfast and asked, "So what do heroes eat for breakfast?"

"I'd go for the Tofu personally," said a voice from behind her. She turned to see a green Titan with who had just woken up and trying not to look like it. "But that's just me."

"Tofu?" she echoed as if she had never heard the word before. "Don't think I ever tried it."

"I'm surprised you haven't! You damn tech specialists always getting the cushy assignments with room service." Said Dan who was, until then, talking to Robin. "Back in the jungle I had to eat nothing but a couple of shitty rations and snakes with bugs acting as my French Fries."

Sarah and Beast Boy ignore him as Beast Boy proceeded to show her how to make Tofu, with him occasionally messing up from the nervousness he felt while trying to impress her and her giggling at his attempts.

"Well I don't have any bugs but we got some nice steak if you want it." Cyborg offered as he walked into the room and the conversation.

"Much appreciated mate thanks." Dan said, smiling at the thought of real food.

"Where's friend John?" asked Starfire as she floated in. "He didn't seem like a bum of laziness when we met."

"God knows when he'll wake up, but I got a feeling it'll be soon." Sarah said as she overheard Star's comment. "He usually doesn't like to keep new friends waiting."

All the while they talked about him, John was tossing and turning, sweating profusely as he struggled to break free from some horrible nightmare and awaken. His eyes shot open and he sat up in his bed quickly with a knife in his hand that he kept under his pillow.

He spent the next few moments breathing hard and sweating as he remembered that at this point in his life he didn't have nightmares, only lucid and horrible memories from past missions. The one he remembered now in particular was one that had left a scar on him psychologically.

He remembered the fear, sounds of gunfire, the blazing hot streets of Bogotá, Columbia, and the dead bodies.

He shook off the memories before he did anymore damage to himself. He waited until he regained his composure before slipping into some fresh clothes and left his bed room. But as he opened the door and stepped out he bumped into someone. Raven.

Shed had been awake for the past hour and a half that she spent in meditation, and was now walking to the living room for some tea when she bumped into Jack. "Sorry." She said as she looked at him and noticed that he looked pale and almost like he had a fever. "Are you alright?"

John nodded up and down but didn't directly respond. His bad memories had left him a little disoriented.

Raven was concerned that he might be sick or something so she put her hand against his head to feel for a temperature. He wasn't warm, but she did sense something else...

Just at that moment, a torrent of memories rushed from John's mind into Raven's, and she saw some recent memories:

_He was holding a Five Seven pistol and was shooting at an enemy hiding behind some crates in the middle of a street in some hot tropical city. He fired several shots, killing the assailant before he shouted to someone: "Run Kate!"_

_Just then he watched a young and beautiful teenage girl run across the street headed for shelter. _

_Just then another man appeared who was dressed casually and looked of Hispanic decent. He was holding an AK-47. He fired in John's general direction, forcing him to take cover behind a near by wall. But he as he hid, he also watched helplessly as the girl was gunned down by several stray, but lethal bullets._

_She fell to the ground, dead. At that moment John felt a rage he had kept within himself. A rage that made John feel as if he didn't care whether or not he lived or died anymore, a rage that was murderous. He charged forward raised his pistol and fired. _

_BANG!_

Raven was forced away by John who had knocked her hand away. He had not felt her invasion of his thoughts, but Raven now realized why he looked so terrible. He wasn't sick, he was remembering some traumatic event.

"I'm fine." He said. He was about to turn away when he noticed she was looking paler than usual. This time it was his turn to ask, "Are you alright?" 

She nodded. "Yeah," she lied, "Just a headache."

John eyed her suspiciously before offering her to pass him, "Ladies first."

She walked past him and headed to the living room with him a few feet behind. She couldn't help but wonder: what happened in that memory? Who was the girl? Who wanted him dead? And what happened exactly? She was going to find out, all in good time.


	5. Bar Room Blitz

Thanks for reviewing everybody, it helps. Sorry if the chapter but what the hell, am I right?

Enjoy.

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A dark figure sat behind a desk in a darkened room. He stared through the din with ease, as if he was nocturnal himself. The only light in the whole room was generated from a single laptop computer whose light revealed little but did help. The desk was a cold unfeeling metal that supported not only a laptop but a series of untraceable pre-paid cell phones and a single silver Ruger SR9 pistol. The figure stared at the screen of the computer with cold eyes that did not waver from the data showed before him until one of his phones began to ring a monotonous jingle. 

He picked it up and answered it after making sure the voice modifier was applied properly to the receiver in case the call was indeed being monitored. He pressed it next to his ear and answered in a polite but scratchy voice, "Yes."

He would have asked who it was but already knew all to well who it was. It was his double agent.

"Everything has gone quiet in your area." The leak said. "The Feds have ceased their entire investigation. They know someone tipped you off."

The figure was unsurprised, but perplexed as to who was looking into him in the Feds absence. "Do they suspect you?" He asked, his voice was devoid of all emotion, and he truly did not care for the life of his double agent but cared more of the fact that he was still important to his plans.

"No, they've launched a new investigation but they wont find me, at least not until it's too late."

The figure smiled. "Good. Who's taken up the investigation now?"

"The original unit is continuing the investigation, whoever they are…"

"I'm surprised at you my friend, I thought you were all knowing and all seeing in these matters." The figure mocked.

"I'll find them," the leak said in an offended matter, "Their just deeply buried in the CIA's budget. They're above top secret, I can tell that much but not beyond my eyes and ears."

"Good." The figure said, "Find out who they are and then contact me again when you've sent me the files." He hung up the phone and laid it back down on the desk and smiled a cold calculating smile, everything was going according to plan. Soon "The Salesmen" would accomplish his goals, and he and his double agent were going to become obscenely rich.

Raven and John arrived in the living room at the same time. Raven was behaving odd towards John and he could tell, he remembered that she had powers of the mind and wondered if she had seen anything, if so than he could only pray she didn't see what he was remembering before. Comparatively speaking he had seen worse and more gruesome moments but that moment in particular effected him, it was private and personal, not something someone else should now about.

Raven went over and made her tea while John sat down next to Dan and Cyborg who had started talking to each other while Robin had left to eat his breakfast with Starfire, and Beast Boy was currently sitting down at the couch with Sarah telling jokes.

Cyborg immediately recognized John and asked, "Is everything this guy saying true?"

John took a look at Dan who immediately raised his hands innocently. "Telling war stories again eh Danny?" he asked with a chuckle. "Yeah, about two-thirds of that is true and the rest is crap made up to make himself look good."

While John started talking to Cyborg, Dan glanced back at to where Beast Boy was sitting with Sarah, and was staring daggers at his head. "What's up man is she your girlfriend or something?" Cyborg asked.

Dan shuttered as if he was disgusted at the idea. "Hell no." he replied, "Sarah's like a little sister to me."

"Yeah and as her 'older brother' you make sure she can't ever get a boyfriend because you're always threatening to kill them."

"And he'll be no fucking different if he makes a move on her…" Dan said before turning to Cyborg and adding, "No offense."

Both teams were staking out a bar that was owned by a local up and coming crime boss named Frank Smith. It was in the afternoon but the bar was open and even serving a small lunch special to the various drunks that lived out of the place, but it was mostly populated by the gangsters who worked for Smith. But the teams had reason to suspect that there were more than just drunks and gangsters in the bar that day.

Unit Zero knew that "The Salesmen" operated by having various proxies and messengers set up the deals for him, one of these proxies was a ex-IRA turned subservient arms dealer named Brian Callaghan. And according to Unit Zero's sources, Brian was currently not only in the country, but also in town, the same town as his employer.

"Alright," Robin said, "according to the people we interviewed at the apartment he was staying at, Brian seems to make frequent visits to this bar every day at the same time to meet with 'a friend'." They all watched the bar from across the street, within an alley where the T-Car had been parked with an arsenal of Unit Zero's weapons stored just incase the job got nasty.

John surveyed the area and finally came up with a battle plan after a few minutes. "Okay," he said while not removing his eyes from the bar, "Sarah, tap into the street cameras in the side walk so we can see who goes in and out." Sarah nodded while John continued. "Dan your point man, go in there and verify that Brian's in the building then…"

"Who's my back up?" Dan interrupted. He was only disappointed to see John point a commanding finger at Beast Boy. "Him? Why in God's name him? Why not the psychic or…"

John cut his off with a swift, "He may be green but he can take on the form of a fly and keep an eye on you while you search for Brian."

"Can I swat him?"

"Shut up Dan." John said as he continued to survey the bar uninterrupted. "Anyway, Dan and Beast Boy locate Brian then when Dan locates the guy we get into position with Cyborg taking the south side entrance and Robin and Star take the west entrance while me and Raven take the roof. Then we wait until Dan is out and then we all bust in and take Brian down, and if anyone asks us we're working for the FBI. Any questions?" No one asked a thing and they all got into position.

Dan waltzed into the bar with a small and unnoticeable green fly perched on his shoulder and that conveniently flew off once both were completely inside. He walked up to the bar and sat down ordering a coffee, all the while surveying the room for his target. He wasn't that hard to find.

A pale blonde Irishmen sat in the corner booth with a large man whom Dan presumed was the crime boss Smith, but he didn't care about him. What he did care about was the fact that Brian was sitting in a booth that was on the completely opposite side of the nearest exit. Good for Dan, bad for Mr. IRA.

Dan waited until he got his coffee and the waiter was nowhere close so he could speak quietly into the microphone clipped onto his right jacket sleeve. "Targets in sight, northwest corner," he paused as he surveyed the area. There were more than just gangsters in the bar, there were men in dark suits, presumably hired guns that worked for "The Salesmen" and assigned to protect Brian. "I seventeen tangos, a dozen of those look liked bodyguards for Brian."

"Roger that Dan, now get the hell out of there" he heard Sarah's feminine voice ordered, "and don't swat BB."

_BB?_ He thought. "Be right out." He said and took a slight slip of the coffee before realizing he hated coffee. He paid for the drink and tipped the waiter and started making his way to the door with a buzzing fly right behind him before he heard someone shout: "Stop!"

Dan froze half way to the door and turned to see one of the gangsters approach him. "Who are you?" he asked. Dan didn't say anything, he didn't have a back story prepared, but more importantly how did he suspect him? "I said who the fuck are you?"

Now everybody was looking his way, Dan did the first thing that came to his mind and asked, "Why? What's the problem?"

"You got a gun on you?" the gangster asked loudly, "I thought I saw a gun!"

Damn. Dan realized that when he paid for the coffee he moved his jacket to remove and return is wallet, this guy must have caught a glimpse of the berretta that was clipped to his belt at the back of his pants. Dan's adrenaline started to pump; he knew what this was going to lead too. He was about to get shot over a coffee that tasted like spit.

The Titans had taken their positions and John and Raven just got to theirs. John was wearing his usual clothes but with a Kevlar vest just underneath the jacket; and he also had a Five Seven pistol strapped to his hip, a SPAS-12 combat shotgun to his back, and a MP-5 tactical sub-machine gun cradled in his arms.

"In position." John said casually into the microphone attached to the collar of his jacket. John and Raven took up position next to a skylight that gave them a perfect view of the main exit and Dan as he started to make his way there, then he suddenly stopped.

"What the hell is going on? Why did he stop?"

John waited for a reply but all he heard was some ambient noise from inside the bar. Then he heard some guy ask if he Dan had a gun on him. John looked up into Raven's face, she knew what was coming. He looked back down and noticed the gangster had started to search him, only a matter of time before he found the berretta in the back of Dan's pants. "Alright everybody change of plans," John said, "prepare to enter on my mark."

For once in his life Dan didn't know what to do. The gangster was searching him by hand, only a matter of time until he found the gun. Dan looked up and noticed something moving about near the skylight. He also made sure the green fly was near by. He breathed in deeply and exhaled slowly. _Oh well,_ he thought, _it's a good day to die._

As the gangster reached to where the pistol was hidden, Dan slammed his fist into the side of the gangster's head and sent him sprawling. Then with quick speed he drew his pistol and pointed it at the roomful of enemies and shouted: "Freeze! FBI! Don't nobody move!"

Smith and his boys knew what to do. You didn't mess with cops, and you sure as hell didn't try anything against FBI. Brian on the other hand followed one rule when it came to this guy: kill him and run like hell.

Dan heard Brian shout out in a Irish accent, "Kill him!" and at that moment all hell broke loose. While the gangsters immediately made for the exit, the mercenaries stood their ground and produced their weapons. They were about to fire when all of the sudden a green hippo fell on top of three mercenaries and as suddenly as he appeared he disappeared and only a fly took off from the unconscious bodies of the mercenaries.

This sudden move was completely unexpected and caught them off guard. And to make matters worse for the mercenaries, the Teen Titans burst in from all directions, including the ceiling where Raven had phased in ready to fight and the skylight broke open as another federal agent jumped down and landed perfectly in the middle of the bar to defend his friend, things had just gotten interesting.

"Surrender now!" Robin ordered, giving them a chance to give up.

Brian immediately ordered his men to open fire at all of them while he scurried away in an attempt to hide. The mercenaries then opened fire with a combination of pistols and Uzis. The bullets flew as John opened fire and killed one mercenary as both he and Dan took cover behind two overturned tables. Raven whispered her mantra as she grabbed the weapons of three nearby mercenaries with her mind and tore them away from their grasp and sent them flying.

Robin produced two staffs and charged into a nearby group of mercenaries swinging his staffs like twin swords and batting away mercenaries with the greatest of ease, while Starfire made sure that no one tried to shoot him in the back by raining down a hail of starbolts. Meanwhile a green shape shifter fought his way through several bewildered mercenaries, changing shape too quickly for any of them to squeeze off a accurate shot.

Dan squeezed off several more shots with his pistol but quickly realized he was doing nothing to help his allies. "John!" he shouted over the gunfire, "Shotgun!"

John then removed the SPAS-12 from his back and tossed the weapon to his friend. Dan pumped the weapon and an excited smile crossed his face. It was time for Unit Zero to go on the offensive.

John and Dan simultaneously arose from their hiding spots and moved from one point of cover to another, firing off their weapons and taking down several mercenaries. While John moved to the safe cover of a pillar he spotted a mercenary about to sneak up and try to take a cheap shot at Raven. John raised his MP-5 and shot him several times until he fell backwards dead. Raven wheeled around the see that John hand saved her and looked him straight in the eye. He had a look of professionalism on his face, but his eyes said something else: concern.

Dan was another story. He leapt over table tops with a smile, as if he enjoyed the combat, and fired off the shotgun catching one mercenary square in the chest, causing him to go flying. He checked around and made sure the area was clear before he realized that in the midst of the battle, Brian was making for one of the exits. Dan made his way over to him and shot down a near by mercenary before grabbing him and hoisting Brian up and saying, "You got a date with Uncle Sam asshole."

Just then Brian produced a tazer and shocked Dan in the hand that grabbed him. Dan hissed out in pain and retracted his hand in pain. Seeing his opportunity, Brian took off in the nearest exit and ran. Seeing Brian escaping Dan shouted, "He's escaping!"

Fortunately Cyborg saw the whole thing and used his robotic eye to see through the wall and see where exactly he was on the other side of the wall, took careful aim, and then fired his sonic cannon. The shot went straight through the wall and hit the Irishman in the head, knocking him unconscious. "Boo ya" he uttered triumphantly.

The last mercenary was knocked unconscious by Starfire and the two teams looked around their surroundings. Anyone who hadn't fought had escaped through one of exits. But none of that mattered now, Brian was unconscious and in their custody. They had won.

"The Salesmen" still sat in his dark room when one of his phones rang. He picked it up and received disturbing news. One of the mercenaries he had assigned to protect Brian Callaghan had narrowly escaped death or capture at the hands of the Teen Titans and federal agents. Brian had been captured. "The Salesmen" knew what this meant, Brian was going to be interrogated and then he would eventually reveal information regarding "The Salesmen" himself. He hung up the phone and called up a trust worthy associate of his.

"Brian Callaghan has become a liability," he said coldly, "Eliminate him the first opportunity you get." He hung up the phone and sat in his chair thinking of what this meant to his overall plan. Brian didn't know who the leak was, and he definitely didn't know the real reason he was in Jump City in the first place. All he knew was "The Salesmen's" identity. It was a loss he would have to learn to take. It didn't matter, soon his plan would come to fruition.

* * *

You like? 

what will happen next for our heroes? what is the meaning of John's memories? who is the leak? and what is "The Salesmen's" plan?

Find out next time when more about "The Salesmen" is revealed as well as some of John's past as well as that of Unit Zero. It should be up in a few days. Till then enjoy what you got.


	6. The Past, part 1

Here you go chapter six. Hope you enjoy what I've done with John's backstory, even if it is a little long. Enjoy.

* * *

Brian Callaghan was having a very bad day. He had just narrowly avoided getting shot by two federal agents in a bar, got shot in the head with a sonic cannon, and now the very moment he had set foot in the Titan's Tower interrogation room Dan slammed his fist into his face; breaking his fragile nose.

"That is for almost getting me shot over a cup of coffee, mate." Dan said as he looked down at Brian in disgust. He looked like he wanted to do worse but Robin's quick objections to unnecessary force forced him to back away.

John picked Brian up and forced him into sitting down in the chair in the stereotypical interrogation room with one way mirror, single table, and two chairs. "Alright," John said in a professional manner, "you are going to tell me everything I want to know about your boss, why he's here, and what he wants."

"Why?" The Irishman spat, "Or you'll torture me? You Americans make me sick!"

"You know I always get offended by that." Dan said as he leaned his back casually against a wall. "Just because we work for the CIA everybody assumes that we torture people, but it's actually pretty unreliable and only works every now and then."

"Besides we don't need to torture you." John said.

"But I'm still going to torture the shit out of you anyway, at least first moment we're alone…"

John ignored him as he continued, "You see we have evidence that leaks you to a bombing in Ireland that resulted in the deaths of twenty-some-odd British nationals. Ever since then Scotland Yard, MI5, and MI6 have been baying for your blood." That got Brian's attention. John kept his professional attitude as he continued, "Now, like I said before, your going to tell us about your boss. And if I suspect that you are lying to me, or holding back anything. I'll have my friend extradite your sorry ass England where you will be tried for God knows how many other felonies and they will undoubtedly find you guilty and I will personally make sure that you get stuck in a prison in England and that your cell mate is a very patriotic Englishmen who knows what you did to his countrymen."

Brian stared wide eyed. He was trapped in an impossible situation, but finally came to a decision. "Alright, ask me your questions."

"Why is 'The Salesmen' here?"

"I don't know"

"What does he want?"

"I don't know"

"Who is his inside man?"

"I don't know"

"What the hell DO YOU KNOW?!"

"Look" Brian explained, "He doesn't tell me shit, he just told me to come to this town and maybe set up a few deals with some local wanker, that's it."

John wasn't happy with that. "You know what," he said in frustration, "Dan, make sure this guy gets one way ticket to England via air freight he's either stupid, useless, or lying."

Dan cracked his knuckles in an intimidating manner and took a few steps closer before Brian exclaimed, "Wait! Wait! I know something you might want to know!" John looked at him in a way that said "Yeah right," but he listened anyway. "I know who 'The Salesmen' is. I accidentally walked in on him when he was having a meeting with my old bosses in the IRA, heard his name and everything! That's how I got my job in his organization, it was either I died or I went to work for him and kept my mouth shut."

John sat down and said as he listened closely, "Go on."

John, Dan, and Robin stepped out from the interrogation room with a look of triumph and satisfaction. "Well?" everyone else asked as they awaited as to what the three had found out.

"We know who the prick is." Dan said as Robin approached the Titan's Computer and typed in a name into the machine. Finally an image of a young man who looked like he was thirteen appeared, it was an old picture and it was useless as it looked like it was taken a decade ago, he was tall and pale with dark short hair and eyes that looked sad and downcast.

The title read a single name Mason M. Thorn.

"Mason Thorn, born 1984 to Walter and Mary Thorn and older brother to Vincent Thorn. His dad was a CEO of a shipping company, and his family history looks quite depressing…" John read off, "Apparently his brother died when he was only ten and then his mother committed suicide three years later. The picture you see was taken at his mother's funeral. And by the looks of things his dad got into some trouble with the mob by raking up a few gambling debts and was found dead shortly after the funeral of Mary Thorn."

"His whole family perished in such a short time?" Starfire said with genuine remorse, "How tragic."

"After his dad was found dead Mason disappeared with a crap load of money in insurance and inheritance and was long believed dead."

"How did his dad die?" Beast Boy asked out of curiosity.

Robin scrolled down to so the information was visible on screen for John to read off. John gave a low whistle before continuing, "Take your pick. It seems that somebody abducted him, cut his fingers off, and lit him on fire, but I personally blame the 10 bullets they found in his body."

"That's a whole lot of rage for a simple mob hit." Beast Boy pointed out.

"Does it say how he got involved in arms dealing?" Raven asked.

They scrolled through the info they had. It wasn't very helpful, looked like someone had altered some information in the file. John finally shook his head. "Oh well," he said, "we know who were looking for now, only a matter of time before we grab him."

"Well we found out who 'The Salesmen' is and busted one of his guys, I call that a full day." Sarah said, "So I got an idea, how about we ship this IRA guy off to the Feds and then celebrate our victory." Nobody objected to that, they all needed some R&R. "So, you guys know any good clubs or anything?"

It took only a few minutes to call up the Feds and secure a transport for Brian Callaghan to be taken into custody. The armored car picked him up and then drove through town with out suspecting a single thing was out of the ordinary (besides picking him up outside a giant T shaped building). They stopped at a red light, waited till it turned green like they should have. And when they continued driving… _WHAM!_

Out of nowhere a giant semi-truck came and rammed the armored car at full force, forcing the car onto its side. A single man in a dark suit and a ski mask got out of the passenger door of the semi toting an AK-47 and a small stick of C4. He made his way to the back of the overturned armored car, attached the C4 to the back door that held its prisoner, and then blasted the door open.

The lone figure stood in the door way and looked inside to see Brian who looked very please to see someone that he knew was on his side. But his feelings of happiness and security immediately vanished when the masked man said, "Should have kept your mouth shut Brian." Brian raised his hands in protest, but before he could protest, the man shot him with the AK-47 and enough times to make sure he was dead.

The driver of the semi got out from behind the wheel and said something into a walkie-talkie. A short minute later a get away car arrived and took off after the gun man made sure that both driver and passenger in the front of the armored car were unconscious, he wasn't ordered to kill them but would have had to if they were still awake to see their get away car.

After they escaped, one of the men took out a pre-paid cell phone and called his employer. "Job's done, the informer is dead."

While this daring attack on a federal vehicle took place on the other side of town, the Titans and Unit Zero arrived at a club for some well deserved time off from crime fighting. They had just fought their way through bar full of bad guys and Dan and John had to kill a few, a break was needed between missions for both physical and psychological reasons.

The club had largely been rebuilt and remodeled after the last time the Titans had been there with Starfire's sister. It now looked less like a converted warehouse and more like a real club, with a bar and DJ stand and everything else you'd expect to see in a club. The club was split into three areas: a open bar, a wide dance area, and a restaurant area that was secluded and away from the noise of the dance music.

Dan immediately headed for the bar while Beast Boy, Sarah, Robin, and Starfire left for the dance floor. One couldn't help but notice the cute couples as they danced. Robin and Starfire had been going steady since Tokyo, but Beast Boy and Sarah had only started to know each other but immediately enjoyed being around each other. It was like one was made for the other.

That just left Cyborg, Raven, and John. But this did not last too long as Cyborg disappeared to mingle with the crowd and swooning fans of the hero. John himself just walked off to the restaurant area. Raven would have followed but instead went to the bar and sat down next to Dan. She had some question to ask, personal questions regarding John that popped into her head when she saw his memories. Who was the girl? What had happened? Dan was the only who she felt she could ask, he didn't seem to mind telling stories.

"To what do I owe the pleasure my quiet friend?" Dan asked as he ordered a scotch with one of the fake ID's he carried on himself.

"I was just looking to listen to a good war story" Raven said, attempting not to give away her true intentions. Dan turned her way and smiled, she could tell he like telling a good war story, even if it was top secret. "I hear John talk about someone named Kate…"

"And it's about damn time too." Dan said, "Been all choked up over her for a year now, not healthy to be that sad over anyone."

"Who was she?" Raven asked, she could tell she was getting closer to the truth, "Did she break his heart or something?"

"Sort of…" Dan said as he took a sip, gathered himself and finally continued. "Let me tell you a little story. About a year back we were called into a mission in Columbia. The daughter of the head of our division of the CIA had been kidnapped and was being held by the local guerrilla group called FARC. Our job was simple: locate the girl, rescue her, and put a few slugs in a few deserving heads."

"Well we showed up in Columbia. John finds her, rescues her, and calls in a raid on where the kidnappers were hiding. So it looked like a job well done and completed until something happened that wasn't part of the mission, John fell in love. Her name was Katherine Blake, and she loved him back. Now, I'm no expert on love, but if there was ever a truer example of love in this world it would've be those two."

"John even had me and Sarah buy those two a little extra time down in Columbia. They spent it well too; they would spend the longest time staring lovingly into each others eyes and would even stay up all night just to watch the sun rise together. Yup, it was beautiful those two."

"Then what happened?" Raven asked, intrigued at a rare glimpse into John's shadowy past.

"Well..." Dan said his voice was now very slow and scratchy; it was as painful to him as it was for John. "one day, they were about to go for a walk around town together in Bogotá where we had set up our HQ…" He didn't need to continue, Raven could see the rest unfold from John's point of view, his memories were piecing themselves back together and giving Raven a glimpse of what had fully happened.

_John stepped out the door of a dilapidated apartment building with a young blonde girl, Kate, to go for another tour of the large and enchanting South American city. The moment she stepped out the door she flung her arms around John's neck and planted a firm and passionate kiss on his awaiting lips. "Good morning" she said in a sweet voice that was like music to John's ears._

"_Good morning princess," John replied after he kissed her back, "where do you want to go for breakfast today?"_

_She pointed at a restaurant down the street, John nodded and smiled a genuine smile as he said, "Alright, not too far, I'll just carry you there." And suddenly picked her up like a groom would pick up his bride and started to carry her in his arms while she laughed and called him crazy._

_John let her down slowly and the two simply stared into the vacuum of each others eyes. It was the happiest moment in John's life and he wished it would last forever. It didn't, it ended fairly quickly and only seemed to serve as a segue to a nightmare for him._

_John suddenly noticed that he was being slowly and carefully surrounded by various Columbian men. At first he dismissed it as nothing, but then he looked into the eyes of one and saw something he knew all too well. Murderous hatred. FARC had found him and Kate._

"_DAN!" John shouted as he saw one man draw a pistol. John was quicker as he produced his Five Seven pistol that was hidden in the back of his pants and under his shirt. He took careful aim and fired, catching the man right in between the eyes. The gunshot served to start a bloodbath in the middle of the streets of Bogotá._

_The other men produced various other weapons such as pistols and Uzis, and opened fire at them. John pushed Kate away to behind the protection of several crates while he took cover behind a large green trash box. Dan soon arrived with a shotgun and opened fire at the first hostile he saw, blasting him in the chest. While John had to make due with his pistol gunning down another man before he had to reload._

"_What's happening John?!" Kate shouted in fear._

"_FARC found us, we've been in Columbia too long!" John shouted back as he shot another hostile in the head twice._

_Dan took out another man while John fired several shots and killed another FARC guerilla hiding behind several boxes and crates in the street._

"_RUN KATE!" he shouted at the top of his lungs._

_Kate ran from the safety of her hiding place and was headed for the safety of the apartment doorway where Dan stood when another hostile in plain clothes and carrying a AK-47 appeared from seemingly nowhere. He fired at John, forcing him to take cover, and watch in horror as Kate, the love of his life, was gunned down by several stray and lethal bullets._

_He watched her fall down to the burning pavement of Bogotá's streets, cold and pale and lifeless. Dead_

_At that moment John's heart broke, a flood of painful thoughts and memories and emotions that he had kept suppressed for a long time suddenly came bubbling to the surface of his soul. His eyes were wide in pain, then slowly narrowed as his eyes stung and burn in a combination of hurt and rage._

"_DAN!" he ordered before he walked away from his cover, "SHOTGUN!"_

_John arose from his hiding spot and raised his pistol and put several bullets into Kate's killer. He used every bullet on that son of a bitch. John dropped his useless pistol and caught the shotgun as Dan tossed it to him from the safety of his cover._

_John saw that there were only three enemies left, all were in front of him. he rushed forward and immediately shot the first in the knee cap, blasting is leg off then he purposefully stepped on his enemies neck. Breaking it._

_The second enemy finished reloading his Uzi just in time to look up and catch a shotgun shell in the chest._

_The last enemy dropped his pistol, it was empty. He reached for his knife when John threw the shotgun at him, and the FARC guerilla instinctively caught it. Temporarily distracted he didn't see John's fist crash into his face. He immediately fell back and John caught the shotgun in mid-fall and pointed it at his enemies head and mercilessly pulled the trigger._

_John breathed deeply in and out. He hadn't known it but he had been screaming in hate the whole time. He wasn't even aware that he was covered in his enemy's blood. He turned and looked at Dan and saw something in his eyes he hadn't seen before. Fear. Dan was afraid of nothing… But he was looking at John like he was some kind of a monster. Sarah came out from the safety of the apartment in hopes of helping John somehow but immediately turned away in horror when she saw him. He looked down at himself and fully realized what he had done. He was a monster._

_He dropped the shotgun and knelt down next to Kate's body. And for the first time in years, he cried._

Raven pulled herself away from the bar when Dan had finished talking and now stood outside the club shaking at how graphic and vivid the memories were. She also realized something else, the day that Kate died he blamed himself as much as his enemies, and that day a monster was born in him, a rage that threatened to consume him as well as his enemies. Raven knew what that felt like, she had to kill a demon to get rid of her rage's influence. But John was mortal, and getting rid of his inner demons would be much more difficult.

She waited until the memories were out her head and she regained he composure when she entered the club. She knew that despite John's professional demeanor, his heart was a warzone. She had never felt such pain in a single person before. She walked towards the restaurant area, she had to talk to John. If she didn't help John, God knows what would happen. He needed help. He needed a friend. He needed her.

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What do you think?

Let me know in your reviews and in the next chapter I'll go a little deeper into Unit Zero's past. (As well as a little JohnxRae). Keep reading and keep reviewing.


	7. The Past, part 2

Here you go, the next exciting chapter. I tried my best to keep Raven in character for this one, so don't be afraid to point out any problems I might have made. I also use these little line things a lot this chapter for the many transitions, so don't be intimidated by those either. Enjoy.

* * *

Raven found John sitting down in the secluded restaurant area, all by himself with nothing but a glass of ice water to keep him company. Even the noise of the club was faint through the thick walls, adding to the lonely and awkward surroundings. Before he would have looked like regular old John to Raven, but not now, not after what she had seen in his memories (and that was only the tip of the iceberg).

He looked up and saw Raven's look of concern, even though it was hidden behind a porcelain mask of what seemed like carelessness, but she did care, more then he knew. "I know about Kate." She said, to the point.

John furrowed his brow and thought for a moment before saying, "Dan tell you?"

"No, you did, I felt the memories on accident back at the tower, Dan filled in the blanks."

John shrugged, it was a subject he didn't want to talk about and his stonewalling her made that clear. But she did want to talk about it, if she didn't she couldn't help him, and that was a disaster waiting to happen. "I don't just see what happens when I look into someone's mind John," she continue, "I become them for that period of time, and I felt what you did at that time." He flinched at the mention of his feelings. "You have a great rage inside you, I felt it, and it didn't just come from that one moment, it was built up. What caused it I didn't see, I was hoping you'd fill me in."

"Why do you care? I thought your whole deal was that you're the emotionless one, you don't care about people, right?"

"My 'deal' is that I'm a hero John, I help people whether or not they want my help."

John then did the next thing any person would do when they don't want to talk about something but someone kept prying, he exploded on her. "You want to know how I feel? What if someone told you that the only way to save innocent lives was to kill your friends, your family, your teammates! Would you do it?"

Raven didn't reply, it was too tough of a decision to make. "Is that what happened John, did you have to kill a friend?"

John sighed deeply, he was going to regret this. He motioned to an empty chair and said, "Take a seat if you want to hear a good story then." She sat down in the chair across from him. "It all started nearly seven years ago..."

* * *

Mason Thorn, or better known as "The Salesmen", was pleased to hear the news about Brian. He was a necessary sacrifice, along with his secret identity. But none of that mattered now, because the informant he had inside the government just called one of his phones. "Yes."

"I found the guys investigating you," the leak said, "I've sent their info to you in an e-mail."

Mason opened up his e-mails on his laptop and found a file attached to a new one. He opened it up, and smiled at the extensive info his leak had found for him.

"They're called Unit Zero. They're a top secret CIA task force specially designed to combat terrorism and global crime."

"They look a little young for CIA." Mason noticed as he scrolled through each of the three profiles of Unit Zero.

"They were part of a special government program called 'project: ghost'." The leak explained, "This program was…"

* * *

John didn't like revealing parts of his past, but he felt like he could trust Raven, when he looked at her he didn't see some creepy gothic girl. He saw a beautiful young woman who just wanted to help. Wait. Did he just think the word beautiful?

"I was 13 in the year 2001, it was shortly after 9/11, and I was an orphan." He explained, "I had been shuffled from one bad foster parent to another and I had basically run away and was making a living off being a small time thief. I was going nowhere fast and my future held nothing except prison time when I would eventually be caught for stealing some stupid shit I didn't need in the first place."

"Anyway I was caught and was about to go to Juvie when I was approached by this guy in a black and white suit. He gave me an offer, I could either continue on the road I was on and probably get shot by some cop, or I could start a new life in service to my country."

"Wait," Raven interrupted, "you are saying that the government drafted you into the CIA at the age of thirteen?"

"They didn't draft me," John corrected, "they didn't trick me either. They let me know the whole deal: what my future held if I joined, the fact I might get captured by bad guys and tortured, the fact I could get killed and no one would remember my name here in the real world. They told me the truth, and I still joined in on what they called project: ghost…"

* * *

The leak continued its summary of the files to Mason. "Project: ghost was an above top secret program that was developed to locate fifty of the most psychologically mature, physically trained, and above all hopeless independent orphans trapped in the system. The program recruited these fifty children and immediately began training them for advanced spy and security work around the globe."

"The program was thought up shortly after 9/11 and the CIA needed new ideas to combat terrorism around the globe. The program had three separate training bases that were used to teach the fifty young participants spy craft: one outside New York for training urban survival techniques, another in Puerto Rico for survival in tropical surroundings, and a final base in the Arctic Circle in Alaska for surviving in low temperatures."

"The fifty participants learned quickly and when the first batch were put into live combat and investigation situations they were incredibly effective. This proved to repeat itself in the other remaining fifty when they went into live situations and proved their worth. The program seemed to work, at first…"

"At first?" Mason asked, "What happened?"

"There were several unexpected side effects for many of the field agents, if not all of them. These included: disorientation, temperamental, night terrors, violent flash backs, and in the worst cases it brought about insanity and violent psychosis."

* * *

John rubbed his temples as he continued his story. "I was picked along with fifty other kids. I wasn't the oldest or the youngest but we all had something in common, we were all orphans. We never had a real family, so through are training as spies, we became a family. We trusted, cared, and protected each other. There was love in our family."

He took a sip of his water before continuing. "Everything was going fine. We pleased our spy masters and we were making the world a better place. But then things started to go horribly wrong. They may have been pretty mature for their age, but they were still kids in that program, they weren't prepared to handle things that not even adults can handle. At first a few committed suicide. Then the worst happened. Revolution."

The leak continued his summary. "In the fall of 2004, there was an uprising in the program. Twenty of the project: ghost agents went rogue and became freelance terrorists and sellers of stolen government secrets. Shortly after their escape three project: ghost agents were deployed to track down and apprehend/kill their former teammates. Priority one target was a former project: ghost squad leader, turned terrorist psycho named Marcus."

"I never trusted Marcus," John said, "He was charismatic and charming, but I could tell that the missions were really messing him up. But I never thought he would lead an uprising."

"What then?" Raven asked intently.

John paused before continuing, he was troubled by these next painful memories. "I was assigned, along with two other guys, to track down Marcus and kill him and everyone who was with him that refused to defect back to the government." Just then he had a flash back.

_One of his targets was staring out the window of the hotel he was using as a hideout during his stay in Paris. It was a beautiful four star hotel with a wonderful view of the French city, but it was also a couple of blocks away from an adjacent building where John was hiding with a high powered sniper rifle. He didn't want to kill him, but the ex-agent was responsible for a bombing, he had to kill him._

_John took careful aim and held his breath to steady the cross hairs on his target's forehead. He hesitated to pull the trigger, he was, after all, about to shoot someone who was not only close friend but also like a brother to him. That hesitation, gave the target the time he needed to find John while he was still staring out into the horizon. But he didn't run, he just stared John in the eyes, and with a single tear running down the side of his face he waved good-bye. He was prepared to die._

_BAM!!!_

"Eight… that's how many I killed. Eight young men and women whom I had called my friends, my family…" John choked up for a second and paused to compose himself. "A normal person would have blamed the government or the program for the deaths. But I only blame them and myself for what happened. Their minds weren't strong enough to survive the program, mine was. They died and I had to kill them because I was the strongest amongst them." He stifled a grim laugh, "Lesser gives way to the greater right?"

* * *

"After that…" the leak said, "only a handful of project: ghost agents were still active and frost for service. They were all funneled together into a single unit called Unit Zero after the CIA destroyed project: ghost. There are only three active agents left today. Those agents are John Garrett, the leader; Dan Holiday, the muscle and John's right hand man, he seems to show a slight history of mental illness but nothing severe; and Sarah Ashwood, the tech specialist. The rest is there for you to read."

"Thank you my friend," Mason said, "you've been very helpful." With that said and done he hung up the phone and read the rest of the files himself. This Unit Zero was working with the Teen Titans. He was going to have to be very careful as to how he handled it.

* * *

"Now what you see is what you get." John concluded, "After I killed Marcus, the only kill I don't regret out of that whole mess, we were all put together into Unit Zero. There used to be seven of us but the rest are either dead, missing, or in some top secret mental hospital recovering from the side effects of the project. Now it's just me, Dan, and Sarah."

Raven stayed quiet. She couldn't have imagined what it must have felt like, killing the people you grew up with, and called your family. She didn't say a word until she finally said, "You blame yourself for a lot of bad things in your life. The death of Kate and your friends, you blame yourself for all of it."

John nodded. She read him like a book, and he felt good. It felt wonderful having someone to talk to about his past and his problems. For the fist time in years he felt free. He looked up at Raven and stared deeply into the eyes of someone who had been merciful to him, someone who cared about him. He was really beginning to enjoy being around her. "You didn't have to do this you know."

"I know" she replied, "consider us even for what you did for me back at the bar during the shoot out."

John smiled a genuinely friendly smile that Raven couldn't help but admire. For the first time she realized how pretty his smile was, and how deep his blue eyes were… She pulled herself out the train of thought quickly before she would think of something that would cause her to blush.

"Are you blushing?" John asked, too late. She quickly turned her head away from him and tried to act like nothing happened. But John had seen already seen her and tried to make her feel better by saying, "Don't worry I wont tell… Come on; let's see how the others are doing."

He stood up and offered her his hand in a gentlemanly gesture. She looked at it tentatively and stood up without his help. She was back to her usual self. John smiled and gave her a "suit yourself" shrug and walked back to the main room of the club.

The moment he turned away Raven smiled to herself. John had come from a painful past, he had suffered from a broken heart, and he was battling his own inner demons that only she could help him with. She couldn't help but think of how similar he was to her, and how glad she was inside that there was someone she could relate too. His smile also helped fuel her inner happiness.

* * *

When Raven followed John back to the main room he was standing in the doorway unnoticed by the crowd. The DJ was now playing a slow song for the couples to dance to. Robin and Starfire were together, and so were Beast Boy and Sarah. Beast Boy was doing things just right with Sarah as he didn't move his hands lower than Sarah's waist and he didn't press against her, he was being gentlemanly; a characteristic that John approved of in people courting someone who was practically his younger sister. She then kissed Beast Boy on his cheek and smiled at him, she was enjoying herself. She rested her head on his chest.

Raven walked up and stood next to him and said nothing. "Want to dance?" John asked suddenly. Raven shot him a "are you crazy" kind of look. "Come on it's not that hard." He begged, "and nobody will notice." She at first resisted the idea but did nothing. John slowly put his arms around Raven's middle, just above her waist. She instinctively wrapped her arms around his neck. The two then slowly began to slow dance. John could tell she wouldn't do this for anybody, which he couldn't help but wonder, did she see something in him? Because he was beginning to see something in her, something he hadn't seen since he last saw Kate back in Bogotá.

Things were going to get complicated.

* * *

There you are, Tell me what you think.

Next chapter, the plot thickens as Mason "The Salesmen" Thorn puts his plans into action. See ya later.


	8. The Heist

Welcome to Chapter 8 avid readers. Sorry that it's a little short but I haven't had much time to write lately, so if I don't update regularly then don't be afraid. Look forward to more reviews. Enjoy.

* * *

Blacksite, that is the name of a top secret government compound. It had gained notoriety in the past year or so as information was revealed to the press about these places and how they were used for torture, but they're true purpose is far more varied. Blacksites are located in various parts of the world, but this one in particular was located several miles outside Jump City, and it's purpose was not for torture but to store large amounts of small decomissioned nuclear warheads. It was impossible to find, unless you had a double agent inside the federal government. 

The site was a small shack large enough to fit a semi, but the largest parts of the site were kept underground in special anti-radiation containers. There were only six guards, all of which were military MP's. There was also a high tech security system that made access to the underground storage area impossible. But, once again, a leak could easily find a way to undermine all of this.

And that is exactly what happened. Several men in dark tactical clothing surrounded the building, their boss had given them everything they needed to get what they were sent to retrieve: from guns to information about the site. They had everything they needed.

One man produced a pair of wire cutters and cut a hole through the fence that surrounded the area, and made his way through towards the front of the surface building with a nine other men following him with automatic weapons. The man in front signaled for the men to stop, then motioned for one man to go into the building while he went around with a knife. He snuck up behind a MP and slit his throat while the man who went inside shot another MP in the head with a silenced pistol.

With the inside secure he typed in a password and login name to a computer next to a large elevator in the wall, it opened with ease after he typed in the password. He then signaled to the other men as they all entered the large elevator with their automatic weapons, all with silencers attached, and descended into where they needed to be. The moment the door opened they spread out and mercilessly gunned down the MP's the moment they saw them, they took a quick count of the bodies and counted six.

Now with the site secure, they loaded up a cart with a heavy metal anti-radiation box that was roughly the size of a coffee table and made their way back to the elevator, they had what they wanted. They made their way back top side and one man spoke into a walkie talkie. When they arrived topside they made their way outside the main room and opened up the gates. All the while one of the men did something with they keys of the keyboard back inside like he was putting tape on the keys hey hit with his gloved hand, then peeling away quickly.

A van arrived and the men loaded up their prize into the van and shuffled inside and took off. Their boss would be pleased with their accomplished mission. They had just successfully stolen a nuclear warhead, and many people were going to pay big money for it.

* * *

Review as soon as you can. Creative reviews help keep a good writer, such as myself going. In the next chapter, The government cracks down after the theft, leading to unforseen consequences for our heroes, and Mason "The Salesmen" Thorn leaves an ultimatum. 


	9. Extortion

"Alright," John said, "favorite actor." John and Raven woke up nearly the same time the morning after everyone went to the club. They had spent the past half-hour getting to know each other better that day, so far they had gone over past missions (John kept a few secret but only told the funny ones) and things they did in their pass times. Raven was hesitant to answer so John said his favorite first, "Clint Eastwood."

Raven shrugged, "I don't watch that many movies, but if I had to pick one…" she thought for a while before saying, "Michael C. Hall"

"Who?"

"There's this show on _Showtime_, he's really good in it." She said, "His character inflicts vigilante justice…"

"Sounds like a guy I'd like," John mused.

"He's also a psychopath in the show…" That last comment made John shrug as he rethought his last statement.

John was about to ask another question when he heard the Titans' intercom system buzz to life as he heard Robin's voice over the intercom, "John, Raven, you'd both better get down here now, there are a few helicopters on their way here and they want to land, they look military."

He then heard Sarah's voice over the intercom, "John we weren't told about this, so it must be an emergency, which means it's him."

Sarah's last words made a look of puzzlement play across John's face and Raven saw it. She asked, "Who's _him_?"

He started walking towards the staircase that led to the living room of Titan's Tower with Raven walking next to him and it took him a while to respond to her, he was debating whether or not to tell her about _him_. But finally told her, "_He_ is Colonel Drake White." John explained, "He oversaw training the field agents in project: ghost how to fight and survive in combat situations, he's been like a father to me Dan and Sarah. But he also runs a special counter-terrorism military unit, the bosses back in Washington and Langley only send him to us un-announced when either we screw up really bad or something really bad happens."

It didn't take long for the helicopter to land on top of Titan's Tower and for the seven military men inside of it to show themselves into the living room. Colonel White was a tall muscular man with short graying hair who looked to be in his fifties but in no way lost any of the intimidating air around him in his age. He wore a military uniform that you'd expect to see on a Colonel and was highly decorated and was followed closely by six other soldiers of much lesser rank who had M16's strapped to their backs and Desert Eagles to their hips.

The Colonel's hard chiseled face gave way to a smile you would expect to see from an uncle who hasn't seen his favorite family members in a long time. He opened his arms and hugged Sarah in a way that would make them seem like they were father and daughter. Dan approached slowly with a smile on his face and White broke away from his embrace with Sarah to give Dan a firm handshake like two friendly soldiers. He soon noticed the Titans.

"You the Titans?" Colonel White asked. They nodded, confused at just what the hell was going on. White extended his hand in friendship to the Titans and shook each one, except for Starfire who gave her characteristic hug, and said, "Colonel Drake White, U.S. Army."

"No offense dude but," Cyborg said asked, "Why are you here? I thought no one was supposed to know about Unit Zero and what they were doing here."

John and Raven arrived just in time as Colonel White responded dramatically, "There's been a development, an incident occurred early this morning and we might know who the leak is."

"What happened?" John asked, he had a bad feeling something had happened.

The Colonel looked in John's eyes and John saw something in there, but he couldn't place what exactly what it was, pity? "At three this morning local time," Colonel White said, "a Blacksite located a few miles outside of the city limits was located and attacked by unknown assailants whom we believe are aligned with 'The Salesmen'."

"What site was it?" Dan asked, "A prison, storage, what?"

"It was a top secret weapons storage site," The Colonel said hearing Dan curse under his breath, "impossible to find without a leak which is why we think its 'The Salesmen'…"

"Mason," Robin interrupted, "We found out his name is Mason Thorn."

"Anyway…" Colonel White continued, "The site was raided and a nuclear warhead was stolen."

"WHAT?!" everyone seemed to scream at once.

"Evidence was left behind at the crime scene," Colonel White reassured, "And it says who the leak is." His eyes trailed back to John again, what was he saying?

"Special Agent John Garret," he said in a tone that was filled with regret, "surrender your side arm." Immediately the six soldiers behind him sprang into action drawing their M16's and pointing them all at John like he was a dangerous criminal. "I'm under orders from the white house to place you under arrest for high treason."

Everyone stared at John unsure what to do, John himself stood in complete awe at what was going on. It took him a while to say, "Colonel, with all due respect sir, whatever evidence you have is bullshit, I'm not a rat. You know me, I'm not a fucking rat."

"The men that broke into the site used your login and password to activate the lift needed to steal the warhead, your fingerprints were found on the keyboard." Colonel White said raspily.

"No way that's impossible," Raven said, she had befriended a traitor before and it wasn't going to happen to her again, "he was here with us last night and all through the morning he came home with us from a nightclub for God's sake everyone here can vouch for him, right Cyborg?"

"Ya," Cyborg said with a slight lack of confidence, " but…"

"But?"

"Someone with training from the CIA would, could, possess the skills to escape the tower undetected." Cyborg finished, he didn't like it but it was definitely possible, John could very well be a traitor and enemy to the state.

"Just surrender the side arm soldier," Colonel White ordered in a gentler tone, like a father would to a son who had found his father's gun and was pointing it at his own head, "just don't be stupid and surrender."

John reached behind himself and produced his Five Seven pistol from the back of his jeans and handed it over the Colonel, one of the soldiers then started to hand cuff John. All the while he looked around at the unsure and disbelieving faces and said, "I didn't do this, you all know me better I didn't betray my country, I didn't betray any of you."

One of the soldiers asked where interrogation room was and then started to drag John there, he complied. But before he was showed to the interrogation room he looked into Raven's eyes and his eyes said it all to her, "I'm innocent. Help me!"

It took a while for everything to sink in. Everyone just stood there, unable to comprehend what was going on. "I don't believe it," Sarah said, "I just don't." she walked off down one of the hallways.

Beast Boy watched her walk away with concern and was about to go after her until Dan stopped him and said "Give her some time to herself, for all you know her brother just died."

Things seemed like they couldn't get any worse, then the call came. Robin's Titan's communicator began to vibrate, he opened it up and the screen was black with little red words reading ID BLOCKED. Then an altered metallic voice spoke to the Titans saying, "Good morning Titans."

Robin put the communicator down on the kitchen table and everyone gathered around as Robin asked, "Are you 'The Salesmen'?"

"Indeed I am."

Robin couldn't help but smirk triumphantly as he uttered 'The Salesmen's' true name, "Mason Thorn."

There was a pause before the voice continued with the altering technology now removed and the black screen replaced by a pale face. The voice rang out in a laughter that made the previous voice seem less monstrous saying in a playful tone, "Damn, you got me."

The face before him was just like the one seen in the picture only aged ahead farther than he was, he couldn't have been anymore than in his early twenties, maybe twenty two, but he looked older. His hair was black and cropped and his eyes were an icy blue surrounding black bottomless pits. He was dressed in an expensive black suit and he would have looked handsome if he wasn't known as a monster.

"What do you want?" Robin hissed through his teeth, angry at how much damage this man was responsible for yet acted like this whole thing was some sick game.

"Well, judging by the fact a U.S. Army Colonel is standing next to you, and a highly decorated Colonel at that, you already know about that nuclear weapon I've stolen. Correct?"

"Judging by your silence I guess I am correct… and don't bother trying to trace this call, if you do you'll simply find the signal is being bounced off from all over the world… Now I have a few clients who will be willing to pay me quite a lot of money for this nuke but since this is my home town and my country I am willing to cut a deal with you."

"Meet me outside the old city library at midnight tonight and bring five million dollars with you as well as lovely little Sarah," Dan's brow quivered, had John told him about Unit Zero? "You will meet me there, hand me the five million, then have Sarah perform a wire transfer of twenty million dollars in government funds to an account my choosing during the meeting, once this is done I'll give you the position of the nuke."

"Mason wait…" Robin said as he tried to get a word in edge wise but was quickly cut off by Mason.

"Midnight tonight, the library, Sarah, five million dollars. Those are my demands, answer them without interference or else America's enemies gain the power to level a city at double the current price." And with that final warning he hung up, his image disappearing from the video display of the communicator.

With Mason no longer present before them Dan cursed, "DAMN HIM TO FUCKING HELL THIS FUCKING EXTORTIONIST BASTARD!"

The Colonel gave a heavy sigh and then motioned to one of his soldiers who gave him a satellite phone.

"What are you doing?" Starfire asked.

"I'm calling Washington," he said wearily, "I need special permission to use aggressive tactics in extracting information for the prisoner."

It took a while to sink in but they knew what it meant and Raven was the only one who could actually say it, "Your going to torture John aren't you?"


	10. Before the Storm

Things were looking bad. John had been accused of being a traitor and aiding an enemy of the state, a nuclear warhead had been stolen and was now being held for ransom by a international arms dealer, and in the best interest of the country John was about to be tortured by the very men who trained him in the first place in order to find out where the nuke was before midnight.

It had been all but too much for Sarah, she had grown up with John and he had been like an older brother to her. He had shown her right from wrong, comforted her when she needed to be, and protected her when the other kids in the project had tried to pick on her. So she sat in a dark hallway in Titan's Tower, and all alone with no one but her memories to keep her company. She remembered when they first met…

_She was twelve when she was enrolled in PROJECT: GHOST, the fifty other children had all been corralled into a single underground compound that the people who worked there kept referring to as a 'Blacksite'. She felt lost among the sea of other children and young adults and was completely alone, a perfect target for two bullies that had been enrolled in the program._

_They didn't want anything in particular from her, just wanted to show the other kids who was boss around here. They shoved her, called her names, all the things that bullies do; and poor lonely Sarah was too timid to stand up for herself. She wish her parents hadn't given her up for adoption, she wished she was home, wherever that was._

_One of the two boys was about to slap her when HE showed up. John showed up like a knight in shinning armor to a scared Sarah. He rushed the first and biggest boy and tackled him to the ground, pummeling him into the cold floor with his fists. The other boy was about to hit him from behind when he felt someone grab him by the collar and throw him to the ground, Dan the avenger had showed up just in time too._

_The two boys ran off in fear of the duo, John and Dan. Dan stood silent with a triumphant smirk on his face while John turned his attention to Sarah._

"_Hi, I'm John." The older boy said as he extended his hand to her, a hand she was more than willing to take._

"Sarah?" she heard a voice ask her from behind. She dried her eyes on her sleeve and tried not to look weak as she turned to face who was talking to her, Beast Boy. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah," she said, trying not to let her voice crack, "I'm fine… I just… I just need to be alone for a while."

Beast Boy felt pity for the young woman and sat down next to her, saying nothing for a while before saying, "I know how you feel."

She didn't even look at him and just kept on starring at the wall, not looking but thinking about her now incriminated adoptive older brother. Beast Boy continued none the less, "I fell in love with someone once, a girl named Terra, and I thought I could trust her. I gave her my heart and, in the end, she was a traitor."

Sarah turned at him quickly and was about to interrupt him but Beast Boy continued, "But I saw that she wasn't evil, she was good at heart and simply was confused about herself and her place in the world, and she showed that she wasn't evil but a hero in the end."

"But John isn't a traitor!" She shouted at him, "He would never do that! NEVER!" Beast Boy hesitated to continue, and Sarah saw he was holding something back, "What happened?"

"Colonel White just received permission to torture John to find out where a nuke is hidden." He revealed slowly so as not to hurt her. He failed.

Sarah immediately broke down; it was just too much for the poor young woman. She felt like she was twelve again, scared and alone. Beast Boy immediately wrapped his arms around her and held her closely as she started to sob into his chest. He patted her on the head and whispered gently, "It's alright, I know John is innocent, it's gonna be alright."

He held her like that for a while, soothing her and trying to make her feel comfortable in this confusing time. Sarah calmed down eventually but stayed where she was, it was the first time in a long time that anyone outside the team had been there for her, and treated her with such affection. She looked up from Beast Boy's chest and into his eyes and the two kept their gaze for a moment; the two slowly moved their faces closer to the others. Until the two's faces were only a few centimeters from each other, she brushed her lips against his shyly but lovingly, then the two kissed.

The kiss was gentle at first but grew more passionate. It was not like the kiss that you would see from two teenagers who were only thinking of sex, this was a kiss that meant so much more. It was the kiss of love.

Love

That word was empty at the moment a soldier's fist connected harshly with John's stomach. "Where's the nuke traitor?" the soldier asked, spitting out the word traitor like some horrible curse word that was too dirty even for a battle hardened soldier to mention.

John coughed sharply, trying to regain the breath that was knocked out of him and simultaneously suppressing the urge to vomit. They had been at this for the past two hours now, taking breaks every now and then, and the soldiers so far were trying their best to interrogate him without messing him up too much, almost like they were restraining themselves. A soldier grabbed a tuft full of John's hair and the two met eye to eye as John gave him the same answer he had been giving him for the past two hours, "I'm no fucking traitor," he paused for a moment as he gasped in air before continuing, "Asshole."

The soldier let him go and pulled his fist back about to hit him again and hard when one of the soldiers restrained him saying, "He has a visitor, Colonel says to leave him be till she's done."

She?

The soldiers left the room and in walked a person John had been hoping would walk in, Raven. He couldn't tell if it was the lighting or his desperation, but right now she was the most beautiful sight on the face of the planet. He gave a tired smirk as she walked in and the door closed behind her automatically.

"Hey there beautiful," he wheezed, he always resorted to jokes when things looked bad, "how do I look?"

She ignored him and knelt down in front of him, looking him straight in the eyes, she didn't know what to think of him. She had been betrayed before, and she could tell the he wasn't a traitor, but the evidence still inspired doubts within her. "Like shit." She finally replied in a monotone.

"You have a sense of humor?" John said with a smirk on his bloodied lips, "If I wasn't in so much pain I'd feel a sense of pride or accomplishment."

"What do you expect me to do?" Raven snapped. She looked away and tried to regain her composure before continuing, "Mason Thorn is willing to sell the nuke back to us for thirty million dollars in government funds…"

"Not going to happen," John said, "If I know the bosses back in Washington they'll send you in with Colonel White and just have you kill him or bring him in alive, either way they'll never pay his demands… When and where is the meeting point?"

"Library at midnight." Raven answered.

"He's smart," John said, "and this is what he's going to do: he's going to change the time and place at the last minute to throw you off and prevent you from setting up any surveillance or a trap, that's how he's going to try and gain the upper hand."

"But whatever you do, bring Mason in alive. He's the only one who can prove that I'm innocent."

Raven nodded before saying, "But just in case…" she then leaned forward and lightly pressed her lips against his. John's eyes widened at the unexpected move and if the soldiers were watching their attention was on the two kissing and not on Raven's hands wrapping around John's neck, reaching down, and then pressing a small item into John's handcuffed hands. John almost didn't notice it at first, but when he did he tightly wrapped his fingers around the item and Raven's thin fingers. Raven slowly pulled her lips away from his and John let go, slipping the item into his back pocket for safe keeping. "Good luck." She whispered.

She stood up and John fully observed Raven as she stood, his beautiful angel of mercy. She turned and walked away after a final good luck look and left the room. Thank God almighty for that beautiful woman. Then the soldiers walked back in, this time with a tray of serums.

One of them produced a syringe and said, "This here is pain in a bottle." He then stuck it in John's neck and pushed down on the plunger, he waited until every drop was gone before pulling it out. Then John felt the effects, he immediately began to spasm, losing control of his muscles as pain shot through his nervous system uncontrollably. It didn't take long for him to pass out from the pain. Fortunately his new good luck charm was safe in his back pocket.

As John predicted Mason called back at seven thirty in the afternoon stating, "Change of plans, come to the west side oil refinery in half-an-hour. Don't be late."

John was also right about the Colonel and the government, they weren't going to give in to Mason's demands. So the Titans, Dan, and Sarah (who was going to hang in the background monitoring the whole thing via satellite) were on their own with the special ops group a half-hour behind them, they just had to stall Mason until they got their or take him down themselves.

The team arrived at the refinery at the designated time, it was dark and there were few lights in the jungle of pipes that transferred oil to many different parts of the refinery. They stood there until a black van, the same that was used to steal the nuke, arrived a single man got out from the passenger side, they couldn't see him until the lights of the van sprang to life and standing before them was the infamous death dealer himself, Mason Thorn. The meeting was on.


	11. Confrontation

Alright here's the next chapter, and here's a hint on what happens, the traitor is revealed.

* * *

His cold dark eyes surveyed the group before him, the nation's finest sent to dispatch him, looks like the world was finally starting to take him seriously. He stood before them tall and slender looking, deceivingly hiding his muscular build. His expensive dark suit with no tie almost acted as camouflage for him if it wasn't for his pale skin. A sinister smile revealed his monstrous white teeth as he said in his raspy voice, "Well well, good to see you all made it… Except for Sarah, what did she get nervous at the last minute?"

None of them said a thing they just stood there, everybody knew what was coming, Dan being fully decked out in combat gear and toting a shotgun was more than enough evidence. But why did Mason show up then? What was going on? Something definitely wasn't right, and it wasn't just John being framed either, Mason had an ace up his sleeve, but no one knew what.

Mason gave a tired sigh as he put his hands in the pockets of his black silk jacket and said, "No money… Well here's a new deal, we all just turn around and walk away, act like this whole thing never happened." They didn't say a word. "Come on just turn around and walk away, leave while you have chance." He repeated, Raven looked into his eyes and could see that he was actually warning them, did he really think he stood a chance against them?

"I've got you guys on thermal," Sarah's voice said in Dan's earpiece, "I'm seeing at least ten tangos, wait, fifteen." Dan nodded and turned to the Titans, who were listening in on their own earpieces, they heard the message.

"I've got an idea," Robin retorted to Mason, "you surrender and beg for forgiveness for your crimes and all the lives you have ruined and we might consider not beating the crap out of you."

Mason threw his head back and roared out a laugh that sent chills through all of them; he must've really been overconfident. "Tell you what," Mason responded, "you ask me one question and I will answer it as truthfully as a monster like me can. And I have a pretty good idea what question you are going to ask me."

They all paused for a moment, which was good since they were buying time for Colonel White's special ops squads to show up, because none of them wanted to say it and prove the evil bastard right as to what they were thinking. Finally Raven asked, "Is John your spy? Does he work for you?"

Another sly smile crept its way across Mason's face as he responded, "John? John Garret?" he paused for a more dramatic effect, then put a hand to his chin as he pretended to mull the question over before he responded, "No my dear, John is innocent."

They were all relieved to hear that, but then who was the real mole? "In fact, I regret that he isn't here with us tonight, I was quite looking forward to meeting him. He was perhaps one of the most interesting American agent I've ever heard of! A shame that I had to arrange his frame; but, seeing that I'm outnumbered, I just couldn't resist."

"It was quite easy to get his fingerprints and pass code really, my real spy obtained them for me. I actually didn't think my little ruse would work, but you all ate it up so willingly." He seemed to make a tsk tsk sound before he finished with, "Oh ye of little faith."

"You aid in the murder of innocents, protect those who do evil to others, and falsely imprison one of our friends," seethed Starfire brimming with righteous fury, "You are a very bad man!"

Mason only nodded his head, he wasn't even going to try to defend himself or his ways. "Indeed I am miss," he said disposing of his previous playful nature for a more serious one, "I am one of the worst excuses of human life this world may have ever seen. In fact, if one of you kill me tonight, they would probably give you a medal! Yes, I am a bad man, so stop me…" he spat out the next word like it was poison, "heroes."

"Confirmed," Sarah said to the team, "fifteen tangos, and good luck."

"TITANS GO!" Robin shouted his battle cry and immediately everyone raced off in different directions, they could almost tell where the bad guys were, but the flash of their guns firing did help too. The others picked out their targets and rushed them while Robin went straight forward, he was going to stop this arms dealer once and for all. He lept up in the air with his staff drawn and brought it down hard on the young man before him, he missed. Mason side stepped the staff, then withdrew one of his hidden hands and a piece of sliver glinted in the soft moonlight. He barely missed Robin with his large intimidating switchblade.

Meanwhile, Cyborg charged to the left, fending off one mercenary easily with his strong robotic arms, then fired his sonic cannon into the darkness to take down another. Beast Boy morphed into a rodent to avoid the bullets that were fired in his direction and to lose his opponents sight of him. When he got close enough he morphed into the form of a Sasquatch that picked up the mercenary then tossed him to the side. Raven and Starfire flew into the sky and rained down all sorts of destruction down upon their enemies. Starfire rained down starbolts on to several mercenaries sending them searching for cover while Raven would disarm a few by picking the guns right out of their hands and then hitting them with them.

Beast Boy knocked one man aside while in the form of a bull and then reverted back to normal so he could shout to Cyborg, "I've got three!"

Cyborg raised a mercenary over his head and tossed him into a oil pipe, knocking him out, before shouting back, "Seven!"

Dan was not faring as well as his metahuman counterparts. Being a mere mortal he could only take on so many enemies at one time and was not completely bullet proof like his android or alien friends. He crouched behind a few barrels and waited till the mercenary stopped firing to reload his TMP before he rose up from his hiding spot and caught the mercenary in the chest with a blast of his SPAS-12 shotgun. He caught another in the corner of his eye and shot at him, just nearly missing his leg. The man fell on his side and raised his pistol at him. Bad move. Dan finished the job and shot him with his shotgun, he didn't miss this time. He smiled; he always liked the rush one gets during a gun fight.

"DAN BEHIND YOU!" Sarah shouted into his earpiece, she saw through the all seeing eyes of the satellite the mercenary creeping up behind Dan and who was about to crack him behind the skull with the but of his rifle.

Dan spun on his heels and pulled the trigger to fire off a shot but was too late, the mercenary knocked Dan's shotgun away from himself just in time to keep himself from being shot in the chest. The mercenary slammed his rifle into Dan's arm causing him to drop the rifle and went to catch Dan across the side of his head with his rifle butt again but Dan ducked in time. Dan punched him in the stomach, causing the mercenary to double over in pain. Dan then wrapped his arms around the mercenary's head and snapped his neck with one swift twist. God he loved good old hand to hand combat. He scooped up his gun and rushed back into the battlefield.

Robin swung and stabbed with his staff multiple times but couldn't touch Mason. He was too quick, too agile, he knew what he was doing. He was pretty handy with a knife too. Robin slammed the staff down hoping to catch Mason on the top of his head but Mason side stepped again with great speed and Robin felt the cold feel of a blade against the back of his neck.

"You're dead." Mason pointed out, but he didn't push down. He could have killed Robin at that moment but he didn't, why? Robin didn't care, he just swung at the arms dealer in hopes of catching him but it didn't work, he hopped backwards just in time again. Damn he was quick. "Come on," Mason taunted, "did you really think I didn't know how to fight with the profession I'm in?!"

Mason then stopped dodging and looked around. The rest of the team gathered around, they had made quick work of his henchmen. Mason was beaten. He could tell Sarah was radioing in that the special ops team had arrived and were about to pounce on him. He still couldn't help but crack a smile as he said with mock defeat, "Well, I guess you _heroes_ were too good for me!" he still spat out the word hero.

"Surrender now!" Robin warned, "Your own ego had brought you down! You really thought you could beat us, but now it's your undoing! So surrender before we humiliate you anymore!"

"Ah, but ask yourself this," Mason said, "Why would I arrange a meeting with a team of _heroes_ that could easily best an army of my finest men any day of the week and come in person? Why would I promise to bring a nuke in hopes of making a deal with a government I knew would try to kill me?!" he paused to let it all sink in, "The key to a successful strategy is this: hold all the cards!"

Just then Robin felt like he had been hit by a truck and he fell to the ground weakened, dazed, and with the wind knocked out of him. He hadn't been hit by anything, but shot by a rubber bullet. Cyborg turned around with his sonic cannon ready, but a special bullet hit him too, this one sent an electrical current through his entire cybernetic body that shut down his systems. Dan raised his shotgun and was about to fire into the darkness when he was shot too, but not by some special bullet, but by a regular bullet that passed through his right outer thigh. He collapsed to the ground crying out in agony.

The others would have fought back as well but froze when their new attackers came into view. It wasn't some other group of easily dispatch able mercenaries, but instead a small army of battle hardened special ops soldiers. One of them was holding Sarah roughly by her arm, another stepped forward to reveal himself to them. Colonel White stood, leading his men as always. Just then everything started to fit into place: they had been betrayed by the Colonel because he was working with Mason, somehow, _he_ was the leak. Colonel White was the traitor!

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GASP! But how is White the traitor? How could a simple military man get access to government information? and why would he give it to an arms dealer? and what will befall our heroes? Check in for the next chapter where more is revealed! 


	12. Traitor!

And so we continue, keep giving me some feed back about what you think and if you have any ideas regarding advertisement for the story. Enjoy.

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Whenever the Titans asked about Colonel White they only heard good news. About what a trustworthy and standup guy he was. Yet here he stood, not only was he a traitor to the whole country, but he had turned his entire special ops group onto Mason's side. Not only that, but he had knowingly allowed John, someone who saw him as a father figure, to be framed.

Mason lowered his hands and said in a calm and confident voice, "This, as they say, is where the plot thickens." He bent over slowly and picked up his switchblade, he slowly toyed with it, then he kicked a injured Robin in the side to keep him from getting up again

"Why?" seethed Dan as he clutched one hand over the bloody bullet wound on his outer thigh, "Just tell me why… You rat bastard…"

"Of all people Dan, I thought you would know," the Colonel said without emotion, "You know what I do for a living. I get sent out to clean up all the governments nasty little messes, I'm their go-to-guy when some dark and sinister deed needs to be done! I was ordered to teach children to become soldiers for God's sake! FUCKING CHIDLREN!" He was quickly losing his temper as he thought of his past deeds.

"Like John always says," Sarah piped in, "We weren't forced or tricked into this life, we chose it."

"It wasn't you choice to make," the Colonel said, "And what about me and my men? We never had a choice, we always had to follow orders. I'm tired of all the lies, the secrecy, of the thought of good soldiers dying and their existence being erased, of all the damn back door deals those bastards in Washington make."

He shook his head before continuing, "Then I met Mr. Thorn here. He offered me a way out, all I had to do was use my connections in the various agencies to help him with some job of his, then he'd pay me and my men all the money we needed to disappear and live the high life, away from all of this war and deception." He chuckled before saying, "And the funnies part is: You all lead me to Mr. Thorn! You called in my assistance when you were tracking him in Congo, and my report before was false, we did find him but I knew it was in the best interest of me and my men to take his generous offer."

"You honor me too much friend," Mason shrugged, "all I did was offer you and your men a large percentage of the money I'm being paid for the nuke."

"So all this was about MONEY?" Dan hissed, "You betrayed us over some FUCKING MONEY?!"

"When me and my men have our money we will no longer have to worry about the almost certain death of the battlefield and then not even being honored with a burial." Colonel White said emotionlessly.

"But please," Starfire reasoned, "Think of what you are doing! You are giving this wicked man an item needed to destroy an entire city and he is going to sell it to other evil men! You and your warriors may win but millions will die, please reconsider!"

"It's too late now." The Colonel seemed to lament.

"But that doesn't mean our business is finished Colonel," Mason said coolly, "I need you to radio your men back in Titans Tower and give them the order… Remove John Garret."

Everyone's eyes widened, "Kill him?" Colonel White said disbelievingly "Why?"

"Call it," Mason hissed, "a test of loyalty. If you make this final display of loyalty I will know that you won't back out later on, I mean, you did swear an oath to defend this country after all."

Colonel White hesitated for a moment, then he asked for a radio and slowly put it up next to his ear…

"Don't you dare!" Sarah screamed, "DON'T! PLEASE!"

He gave the order.

"YOU FUCKING TRAITOR!" Dan screamed in a combination of hate and pain, "I'M GONNA KILL YOU! I SWEAR TO GOD I'M GOING TO FUCKING KILL YOU!"

Dan slowly reached for his shotgun that laid a shot distance away, one of the soldiers kicked him and shouted, "Don't make me shoot you again asshole!"

Mason laughed, "Careful Colonel, he might limp his way to the shotgun."

Dan looked at Sarah, she saw what he was thinking and nodded in agreement. Dan then looked at Beast Boy, Raven, and Starfire; the only remaining standing Titans. They saw what he was thinking too.

The Colonel couldn't look Dan in the eyes out of shame of having to order John's killing so he didn't see what Dan was thinking, but Mason did. His smile quickly melted off of his face as he shouted, "Stop them!"

Immediately the last remaining Titans unleashed one final flurry of attacks to distract their enemies, even Dan pulled out his Beretta side arm to fire off a few shots. Dan rolled over to Raven and Beast Boy stood next to her so they could transport out, they waited for Starfire until she took a few too many bullets and was knocked out by one, she may have been damn near bullet proof but even she had her limits.

"Leave her!" Dan ordered, "Get us the fuck out of here!"

Immediately Raven chanted her mantra and the three were encased in darkness as they quickly disappeared back to Titans Tower. The Colonel cursed loudly at their escape, Mason however maintained his calm persona.

"No worries friend," Mason said reassuring his latest business partner, "We still have these ones." He stood over an injured but still conscious Robin and knelt down to look him in the eyes.

"If you're gonna kill me, then do it already you sick bastard." Robin said, uncharacteristically swearing.

Mason played with his knife for a little and then dramatically pressed the point against the base of the back of his skull. He left it there for a moment before saying slowly and seriously, "No, no harm will come to you or your friends from me, not now anyway."

Mason withdrew his knife and put it back into his jacket pocket. He slowly began to walk to the Colonel when Robin croaked out, "Why?"

Mason turned and looked at Robin, then walked back over to him and said, "Look at you, leader of one of the finest group of heroes in the country! And if I just put my knife into your throat while you couldn't defend yourself or fight back, well, it just wouldn't sit right with me." Mason smiled as he continued, "No, if I kill you or any of your little friends, it's gonna be when you're ready willing and able… I want you at your prime."

"In fact the only thing I regret about this whole thing right now is that I will never get the chance to meet the late great John Garret, I was looking forward to fighting him. Oh well, _say la ve_ I guess. Now say good night, _hero_." He then drove his foot into Robin's head and knocked him out. No harm would come to him or his captured friends; he meant it when he said it. Mason Thorn was a man of his word.

Mason turned to the Colonel and ordered him to take the Titans and meet him back at his hideout. He had a warhead to ship after all.

* * *

John slowly woke up after his third 'pain in a bottle' induced unconsciousness. He shook his head and looked around; the soldiers weren't in the room. Good, he needed some alone time. John reached into the back pocket of his pants and pulled out the item Raven had slipped him before: a small lock-pick. Thank God for that living angel. John hung his head and pretended to be unconscious still as he picked the handcuffs. _CLICK_. Freedom baby, it was sweet.

John immediately made his way over to the door of the room and pressed his back up next to the side of the door away from the window on the other side so they wouldn't see him. One of the soldiers was headed back to the room, he could hear the foot steps of combat boots. They didn't quicken, that meant he didn't look out the one-way-window to see that John had escaped. The soldier walked through and stopped dead in the doorway when he saw the chair was empty. He then felt a karate chop to his windpipe as John struck, knocking him down and gasping for breath. John stomped on his head once to knock him unconscious, then took his side arm: John's very own Five-Seven pistol.

John checked the weapon to make sure it was loaded then he heard more footsteps approaching. John holstered the Five-Seven when he noticed several syringes filled with the 'pain in a bottle' serum. A smile drew across John's face as he picked up one of the syringes, then he removed a vent on the ceiling. Once that was done, John went back into the interrogation room, blocking the door to make sure it wouldn't close on him with a screw driver, and crouched underneath the window so he couldn't be seen. The trap was set.

The last soldier who had spent the whole day torturing John walked into the room and noticed his fallen comrade. He drew his Desert Eagle and then looked up at the open vent in the ceiling, deducing that John must've crawled up there to escape. He stood under the vent to get a better look when a figure jumped out from the open door behind him and stuck a needle in his neck. He struggled at first, even firing off a few shots with his Desert Eagle before John pushed down on the plunger.

The soldier then stopped fighting and started spasming and silently screaming out in pain and agony as his whole nervous system went hay-wire. The man eventually stopped writhing and slowly slipped into unconciousness as John whispered into his ear, "Sleep tight."

John let his body drop limp to the ground and then tied him up with his unconscious buddy with some wire he ripped out of a deactivated computer. Just then John felt the pain shoot through his body and he almost collapsed, the torture had taken it's toll on him. He heard a sound from the living room, he readied his pistol and slowly approached, he need to face whoever was sent to kill him.

* * *

The last two remaining Titans and Dan appeared right in the middle of the Titans' living room with a thud. Raven immediately began to tend to Dan's leg wound while Beast Boy sank into one of the couches and said in a low defeated tone, "He has Sarah."

"No shit." Dan hissed through clenched teeth as Raven worked her magic.

Beast Boy suddenly snapped and shouted, "Quit whining about that damn leg of yours! They're probably going to do worse to the others."

"Have you ever been shot in the leg before?!"

"No!"

"Then let's fix that!" Dan said as he raised his weapon threateningly and Beast Boy jumped into a fighting stance. Raven got between them to keep the two from killing each other, but it was the croak of a familiar voice that kept them from doing anything unreasonable.

"I'm gone for a few hours and you guys are tearing each other apart, tsk tsk tsk."

They all turned to a dark hall way and their dark faces brightened when they saw someone they thought was dead by now, John Garret was alive and well. Albeit a little fucked up.

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Did you like it? Review soon please! In the next chapter the remains of Unit Zero and the Teen Titans band together for one last hurrah against Mason Thorn and his Special Ops allies. See ya soon. 


	13. Going Hunting

Here we go readers, sorry if it's a little uneventfull for you but I'll make it up next chapter, promise. And for that nameless spectator (you know who you are) all I can say regarding Mason is patience, I do not intend for him to be a simple two-dimensional stereotypical villain and his role will be expanded in days to come. Till then pals, Enjoy.

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John nodded with quiet understanding; he was taking the news quite well. Raven was currently healing his cuts and wounds, she had finished with Dan a while ago, and all the while was telling him the whole story. He didn't react badly, but not coldly either; it was like he was pretending to be calm but was exploding on the inside. "Too bad we don't know where Mason and the Colonel are or we might have _some_ advantage against them."

Silence befell the room, he had a point. Mason had disappeared with the other Titans and Sarah too most likely where the warhead was but they had no idea where that was, until Beast Boy finally decided to speak up as a small light bulb turned on in his head. "There is!" he exclaimed as he rushed off to the Titans' computer and started to type something in. All of the sudden a map of the city appeared with a giant C glowing at an area in the docks. "Cyborg installed it few days before we met all of you so no one else knows about it, a new tracking device in his shoulder that only activates when the rest of him shuts down, he put it in after the Brotherhood of Evil started tracking us down and he wanted a secondary system to rely on if he was ever captured or something!"

Everyone smiled, they had the bastard now. John then removed his shirt to reveal his bare chest and said, "Alright let's get this over with." He produced a syringe and motioned to Dan. He took it and held it in his hands and eyed it with displeasure while John laid down on top of the kitchen table.

"What is that?" Raven asked.

"You ready boss?" Dan asked as he squirted a small amount of a strange liquid to remove any air bubbles.

"What the hell is that?"

"DO IT!" John said uneasily, and then Dan suddenly brought the needle down with great force and stabbed John right in the heart like he was some kind of vampire. John's eyes widened and his mouth hung open in a silent scream.

"WHAT THE HELL!" Beast Boy shouted in shock, "WHY DID YOU JUST STAB HIM?!"

Dan ignored his as he pushed down on the plunger, emptying the liquid directly into John's heart, then removed the syringe. It took a short awkward moment of silence but John shot back up with renewed vigor, and if he felt as good as he looked then he probably could have taken on Mike Tyson in a fist fight. He hopped in place like a boxer and threw some punches at an invisible enemy before saying, "Whew. Nothing like a shot of adrenaline to get you over a torture, and get you ready for taking down an arms dealer."

"Are you sure you're alright?" Raven asked, it wasn't everyday you saw someone get stabbed in the heart and feel good about it.

"Feel like a million dollars my dear," John said as he stretched one last time before saying, "Now let me and Dan grab some weapons, we're going hunting."

* * *

The warehouse was a large building that looked like, if you were viewing it from a helicopter, like a large square with a hollow middle that acted like a courtyard of sorts for stacking crates (most likely filled with weapons) and was missing middle part of the southern side of the square, leaving a gaping opening that was gated off and used for dropping off crates that were brought in trucks from the near by docks.

The dirty concrete building was old and blended in well with the rest of the warehouses and storage buildings in that area of town and if you checked the records in city hall regarding the warehouse itself you would see that it was recently bought by what claimed to be a shipping company. Of course the company was fake and it was now being used as the temporary base of operations for Mason Thorn and his new Special Ops allies. Its position near the docks was perfect for shipping in weapons, and shipping out a nuclear warhead to certain nefarious clients on the other side of the world.

John, Dan, Raven, and Beast Boy approached from the east side. John made some last minute preparations after he and Dan had suited up. They were fully decked out in black tactical clothing with tough body armor; Dan didn't carry his trademark shotgun but instead now toted a large and heavy M60 machine gun while John carried a specially customized M4 Carbine with a scope, extra handle, and two clips tied together like you see in bad action movies.

Anyway, John made some special arrangements before Raven whisked them off to outside the warehouse. First he obtained satellite imagery of the warehouse to find out how many Special Ops soldiers where in the building, where the Titans and Sarah were being held, and where the warhead was; Lastly he called up Washington with a satellite phone and had Dan prove his innocence and called in a little back up, he was going to need every gun he could to take on he Colonel's men. Twenty minutes, then every SWAT and Tactical Team in Jump City would come in full force to take down every last traitorous one of them, just twenty minutes.

Might as well have been twenty hours. John had no idea how long he and the Titans would last against a force like Colonel White's men. God help them.

They slowly creep up against the solid concrete wall on the east side of the warehouse and John ordered Raven to check the room for enemy minds, and make sure that the Titans and Sarah were there in the first place. Raven's eyes turned white for a moment, then back to normal. She nodded that the team was there, but no one else. Lucky them.

Raven pressed her hand against the cold concrete and a stretch of the wall turned black with dark energy and helped the others phase through the wall, then she followed closely behind. The other Titans were in the room and alone, strapped to chairs specially designed to keep them where they were, special toys bought off an old acquaintance of the Titans named Mad Mod. Robin could have picked the lock but Mason had been careful and had his gear taken from him and stored in a chest inside the room that were filled with other key equipment such as Sarah's laptop computer and Cyborg's power supply. Sloppy, real sloppy Mason, he hadn't been counting on his headquarters getting blown so soon.

They quickly went to work freeing their friends and restoring Cyborg's power supply. Beast Boy hugged Sarah when she was free and Cyborg flexed his parts with a look that simply begged for a good fight. Just then he got his wish, the door was opened by an unpredicted and certainly startled soldier.

He stared blankly at them for a second before shouting into the radio in his helmet, "Tangos in the holding area! Tangos in the… " he as quickly cut off by a blast for Cyborg's sonic cannon.

* * *

Mason and Colonel White toasted heir success with a shot of whiskey. Soon the ship would arrive in the docks to pick up the precious cargo right to their left. The two were sitting in a in a large room that was being used to hold the warhead, the room was on the top (second) floor in the middle of the north wing of the warehouse. Mason had previously used it as his personal office, but had it cleared out and now all there was was the warehead which was currently being used as a table for the toast.

"To new beginnings." The Colonel said without emotion.

Mason quietly raised his glass and both drank the fierce tasting liquid. Mason hadn't said much since he returned from the oil refiner with the Titans as his prisoners. The Colonel couldn't tell if it was out of disappointment of the lack of fight from the Titans or the fact that the government hadn't taken the easy way out and just paid him the ransom.

"Here's what I don't get," Colonel White said suddenly, "you're an arms dealer, effectively a black market businessman right?"

Mason nodded

"So why is it that you not only offered to sell the warhead back to the government but also at half-price. What's with that?"

Mason shrugged, he didn't feel that talkative right now, "Sympathy, patriotism, nostalgia for my old home town, I don't like the cocksuckers I'm selling it to now; take your pick."

Colonel White smiled a quick grin. "What about that speech you gave the Titans back at the refinery?"

"What about it?"

"You called yourself a 'waste of human life', and it wasn't only for your own little image, I think you meant some of it."

It was Mason's turn to smile, theatricality and deception were some of Mason's favorite weapons. He had painstakingly set up a unique image to the rest of the world, legal and illegal, as a borderline psychotic who would sell you anything you wanted if you paid the right price. It wasn't far off, and it was no different that the alter-ego of a superhero, he mainly did it because the psychos of the world ate shit like that up, they loved doing business with someone as unstable as they were. _God I'm good at PR_. "My reasons are my own, I don't really do that many redeeming or good things anyway, now shut up and drink." He finally responded.

"Tangos in the holding area! Tangos in the… _BANG_!" came a sudden voice and noise from the radio attached to the Colonel's uniform. Mason smiled, call him a masochist but he always preferred a challenge when it came to his inevitable opposition. The Colonel began shouting orders into his radio while Mason picked up his own radio to talk to his own mercenary men.

"Get the chopper in the air and get a good gunner on it, the Titans are loose in the building," He said as a smirk played across his face, "Happy Hunting."

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Like it? Review as soon as possible, please review MUSKRAT04 I miss your detailed reviews, and if my anonymous friend is still reading: sorry if I still disappoint you. Next chapter, it's full on war with Titans and Unit Zero going toe to toe with Mason and his mercenary minions. See ya soon pals. 


	14. Battle Zone Part 1

Here it is Chapter 14, the end is nigh. And if you like what you are reading then dont worry I've decided to expand this into a series. Well enough of that, Enjoy Ch. 14

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"Come on Dan I need a gun!" Sarah argued, "We're facing an army out there and we need all the help we can get!"

"No!" Dan said once more for good measure. The Titans and Unit Zero were stuck inside the holding room and were getting themselves prepared to face the army amassing on the other side of the steel door in the warehouse. "We'll get more help in less than twenty minutes and you don't have experience in the field."

"I know how to use a gun!" Sarah retorted.

"But I don't want you getting shot out there by some trigger happy soldier just because you had a piece on you."

"But…"

Dan looked for a quick excuse when he grabbed Beast Boy and said, "Beast Boy here will protect you so you don't need a gun, okay?" Sarah reluctantly nodded and then walked over to John for last minute instructions. Dan faced Beast Boy and said, "Look, I know what I said back in the tower was a little… Look just… Look out for her, promise me that you'll keep an eye out for her… Even if I don't make it out alive."

Beast Boy nodded, he knew that Dan had been protective of Sarah and didn't exactly hold Beast Boy in the highest of standards, "I promise I'll look out for her, and you're not going to die tonight."

"Yeah," Dan said with a chuckle, "you can carve that on my tombstone."

"Twenty minutes? So should we just wait here till the backup shows up?" Robin asked John.

John shook his head, "They're going to tear that door down and hit us with everything they got. The best chance we'll get is if we hit them first, then take cover in the courtyard, there's a lot of boxes to take cover behind there."

Robin agreed and called everyone around and to prepare to go through the door. Raven stood next to John, suddenly he said in a whisper, "Thanks by the way."

"For what? Freeing you or kissing you?" Raven whispered back while the other focused on the door.

"Both." John said with a charming smile. He turned his head back to the door and tried his best to get back into the game. "Ready when you all are."

"Titans GO!" Robin shouted.

They burst through the door with a blast of dark psychic energy that also doubled as a bullet proof wall for the two teams. Sure enough lying beyond the door were several (twenty or thirty) Special Ops soldiers who immediately opened fire on them. Raven's shield blocked the first couple of waves of bullets as Cyborg blasted a hole in the hall wall that lead into the courtyard and the maze of boxes that supplied ample cover for the mere mortals among the two teams.

When Raven's shield was finally chipped away by the bullets they jumped through the hole and into the courtyard guns blazing. Starfire and John were the first two out, Starfire providing air support and blasting at the various soldiers taking refuge in the upper floors while John fired his M4 and killed two soldiers and sent another taking cover in a doorway. The rest soon followed and fired at the soldiers that surrounded them, they were outnumbered and pretty much surrounded but the Titans made up for this in fight.

Cyborg surveyed the area with his robotic eye so he could see through the concrete walls and pinpoint his targets before he blasted them into la-la-land with his sonic cannon, Robin dispersed gas disks around the area so to shroud the two teams and make them harder to hit and would knock down any soldier stupid enough to try and overtake the Titans' position, Raven raised a bullet proof shield every now and then and would also pick up the various crates and pieces of concrete with her mind and throw it at any soldier unlucky enough to be exposed, Dan simply unloaded on any soldier he saw and was firing his machine gun like a mad man, and Beast Boy spent his time looking after Sarah to make sure she didn't get hurt.

John peered over a crate and shot three shots into a window, catching one soldier in the head. Suddenly a bullet hit him in his Kevlar vest and it knocked the wind out of him for a moment, but he didn't feel any pain with thanks to his adrenaline shot. Raven rushed over to him and put her hand over the wound but John grabbed hold of he pale fingers gently and shouted over the gunfire, "I'm fine! Throw something at the soldiers!"

"COME ON! COME ON!" Dan shouted wildly as he fired into an open doorway, killing a soldier; "I'LL TAKE YOU ALL ON! COME ON! WHICH ONE OF YOU FUCKING PIGS WANTS A BULLET IN THE HEAD?! COME ON!"

Beast Boy dropped Sarah behind several boxes and shouted, "Stay here!" Sarah attempted to protest but Beast Boy turned into a fly and flew into a near by window. He managed to get inside of a top floor hallway when he turned into a bull and ran wildly down the hallway, tossing aside soldiers left and right. He must have tossed aside five or seven soldiers before he realized he had lost the element of surprise and turned back into a fly to disappear back into the cover of the boxes, checking up on Sarah before retrying the process again on a different hallway.

John spun on his heel and fired five accurate shots with his M4 at a soldier who was attempting to make his way to a crate for cover and get closer to them, John's shots cut him down. He looked around and realized that they were doing a good job and muttered loudly, "Holy Hell we might actually win this."

Just then they heard a sudden noise that sounded a lot like a… Helicopter. Suddenly a helicopter rose up from behind the warehouse with a gunner carrying a large machine gun sitting in an open door in passenger area of the chopper. Immediately the gunner opened fire and hit Starfire a few times, forcing her to take cover behind the boxes.

"STAR!" Robin shouted in fear and worry. He rushed over to her and checked her to see that she was alright and had managed to escape from a potentially fatal encounter with only a slight cut on her arm, thank God for her tough alien skin.

The Titans and Unit Zero took cover behind boxes, with Dan and John firing at anyone who tried to flank them, they couldn't take on a chopper while it was laying down suppressing fire with a gun that big and while so many other soldiers were trying to kill them. John removed his clip, flipped it over, then popped in the fresh one strapped to the useless one, then fired a few more shots before shouting, "Any bright ideas? 'Cuz I'm shit out of mine!"

"We charge them!" Starfire said with her eyes glowing, "And give them a fight they will never ever forget!"

Everybody stayed quiet, no other good ideas at the moment. Dan reloaded his machine gun before shouting, "Well, it's a good day to die anyway, so let's do it!"

They all got ready behind the boxes, Raven's hands were surrounded with dark energy as she prepared to raise another shield. This wasn't going to end well, and everyone knew it. Might as well go down swinging.

"On three! One…" Robin shouted.

_Guess I'm coming to see you Kate._

"Two…"

_Gonna say hi to all my dead friends soon too, sounds like a gas._

"Thr…" Robin said but was cut off when all of a sudden the chopper exploded into a bright ball of orange flame, the remains crashing onto the ground below, just in front of the entrance to the north wing. They all turned around to see that a small army of the nations finest had arrived to aid the Titans, and earlier than expected too.

SWAT opened fire on the building with machine guns and on occasion with grenade launches when they needed to clear out gun nests. Several SWAT soldiers took cover with the Titans and Unit Zero behind the row of boxes they were hiding behind and one of them shouted, "We're with you guys, just give us the word and we'll storm the building!"

"Get her to safety first!" Beast Boy shouted and two SWAT soldiers grabbed hold of Sarah and escorted her out while the others provided covering fire.

Now everything was set, the fight was even, time to show these bastards what the Titans were really made of. With a smile Robin shouted, "ONE TWO THREE!" And so the Teen Titans, Unit Zero, and their own personal army of SWAT charged forward and around the chopper ruins, and through the north wing enterance. They charged in guns blazing, starbolts flashing, staffs slashing, fists brawling, and every other way possible to inflict pain on the soldiers. The battle had just begun.

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Please review! I didn't even get any new reviews today, shame shame readers. Oh well, always tomorrow right? Next chapter the battle continues on a level playing field with SWAT vs Special Ops, Titans vs Special Ops and Dan vs Col., with John going Mano y Mano with Mason Thorn. See ya later pals. 


	15. Battle Zone Part 2

Here you go the epic conclusion. one more chapter left then on to the next story. Enjoy.

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"Go down there and sort things out," Mason ordered, "I'll get someone up here to help me move this warhead back into the van for transportation, once it's secure I'll radio you and let you know it's time to pull out." The Colonel nodded as he loaded his side arm and shouted a few more orders into his radio, he was about to take off when Mason said, "Good luck Colonel." He was a traitor and nothing more than a business partner, that's it. But he did respect the man at a more personal level, it takes a lot of courage to betray your enemies and still look them in the eye, which is what he was going to do when he faced them.

The Colonel however, departed without a word in a professional manner. Mason secured his Rueger pistol inside his black silk jacket and his large switchblade in his pocket before ordering one of his men to come help him with the warhead. He had to leave and soon, or else he would lose the warhead and with it the trust of his client.

Back down in the first floor the battle was still being fought hard and strong by both sides. The Special Ops soldiers were playing it safe now, using more cover and weren't taking their enemies for granted. John stood next to a staircase and was firing several shots when a grenade rolled next to him. John cursed under his breath and ran up the staircase and was knocked onto his face, again, when the grenade exploded. The explosion wasn't that powerful per say but it was enough to cause a little of the ceiling to collapse inward and block off the stairs back down to the first floor. John was on his own.

John took a quick look around hoping to find another way back down and onto the first floor when he heard something to his right. He turned on his heel and raised his M4 at whatever caused the noise to see that no one was there, but the sound was indeed coming from behind a semi-closed door that lead into a large room in the middle of the top floor on the north wing.

John peered inside and saw two men in dark suits standing next to a large rectangular box that was the size of a coffee table. The warhead, he had finally found it! John shoved the door open and ran in with his M4 raised shouting, "Hands up!" The first man raised his hand and showed he was holding a TMP, and John shot him several times. He turned his gun to the next one who was reaching for his weapon but stopped what he was doing when John pointed the M4 at him.

"Drop it!" John ordered. The young man dropped his Rueger pistol and kicked it towards him across the ground and in between John's legs through the door. John kept his gun pointed at the guy until he realized that he recognized him, from the old photo in his file. "Mason Thorn?"

"None other than." Mason replied. "Let me guess, John Garret?"

"Yep."

Mason smiled, "I've been waiting to meet you John, and I couldn't have asked for a more appropriate way."

"Shut up, you're under arrest and you are coming with me!"

"Why? Why are you after me huh? You take me down you aren't going to stop my work, there will just be some other scumbag who will fill in my place and the wanna-be warlords still get their goods."

"Don't tell me. You're gonna give me that whole whole big bull shit speech about how you are, somehow, not responsible for any of the damage you've done and that it is all society's fault… Am I right or am I just whistling Dixie out of my ass?"

Mason laughed at that last part. "I know what you mean," he said as he laughed in his throat, "I did it for democracy, or I did it for the people, or I did it for God! Why is it so hard for people these days just to except their sins?"

"What the fuck is so scary about responsibility anyway? These assholes avoid it like the plague!" John added to Mason's argument.

"Always lying, and not just to the world but to themselves too! They know what they do is wrong and yet they try to convince themselves that their hands are clean. HA! That's why I don't like lying, if I do something I will say what it is not hide behind some bullshit. I mean what I do is wrong right? I do murder, torture, and sell guns to people; and that is by my definition wrong correct?"

John nodded.

"That's why I don't mind letting the world think I am what I do; I realize what I do is wrong, I just can't really bring myself to care." Mason said.

John nodded again before saying, "So what? You think that makes you better than all the other shit heads of the world?"

"No." Mason said casually, "Not better, not worse. Just different." Mason took a deep breath before saying, "I guess I have done a few things that do merit a bullet or two, so what are you gonna do? Make the world a better place by removing me from it?"

"I'm currently debating whether or not to kill you." John replied, "But I just don't know. I mean you do have a point about whether or not this is going to make a difference your trade, but then again maybe just killing you will help me sleep at night."

"I'm surprised you can get to sleep at all with so much tragedy in your past John." Mason said emotionlessly, "Especially after Kate."

John winced at that, but was also a little confused. This guy was at first trying to relate to him and now was he egging him on, what's with that? "Shut up!" was all he could come up with in the end.

"And killing your teammates and all, I think that will have a pretty negative effect on one's psyche." Mason continued with indifference.

John finally decided he had had enough and pulled the trigger of his M4. _Click_, nothing. In all the excitement John must have forgotten to check his M4's clip to make sure it was still full, because now it was empty. In a flash Mason rushed at John with a knife produced from his jacket pocket. John tossed the M4 at Mason in hopes it would slow him down, John didn't have enough time to reload it anyway.

John pulled out his Five Seven and was about to pull the trigger when Mason's knife knocked it out of his hands and onto the floor. Mason then made a swipe at John's face and barely missed by a few centimeters, John threw an awkward punch but Mason easily side stepped it and slashed him across the back, cutting a little through the back of the Kevlar. John was forced to move away from the door or else he would be cut again and immediately withdrew his own KA-BAR knife, only to discover that his Five Seven was at Mason's feet.

Mason looked down at it briefly before kicking it out the door and shutting it. "I rarely fight anyone personally, so you'll understand if I would like to keep this fair."

The two raised their knives at each other, time to finish this. The two charged at each other simultaneously, John was well trained but Mason was naturally fast and was definitely had a good history with a blade, the fight was pretty much even. John swung his KA-BAR at Mason's neck but he easily dodged it. Mason moved underneath John's swing and at the same time sliced through his Kevlar vest again, right where his ribs should have been if not for the vest.

John whirled around and tried hit Mason again with a downward slash, Mason blocked John's forearms with his own and knocked John's arms away from his head. Mason then elbowed John in the head causing him to stumble back and allow Mason to kick him in the chest and knock him to the ground. Mason then kicked the knife out of John's hands and moved to step on his neck when John rolled out of the way. He wasn't that good with knives anyway, it wasn't like he was going to need his KA-BAR.

Mason swung at John and John caught his forearms in mid swing, grabbed a hold of Mason's collar and shoved him against the wall next to a window. John bashed Mason's and against the window leaving some shards sticking up from the sides. John pressed Mason's knife hand down against a sharp piece of glass and waited until Mason screamed out in agony and dropped the knife before he threw him across the room. Mason rolled with the throw and was soon back on his feet.

Mason quickly removed his black silk jacket and rolled up his sleeves for some gold old hand to hand combat; John did the same by removing his Kevlar, it was all torn up and useless anyway and it was only weighing him down. The two got into fighting stances and waited a short while before charging at each other.

Dan was reloading his machine gun when he saw him, he saw the Colonel walk take cover in one of the rooms a short distance away. Dan narrowed his eyes when he saw him, he had a score to settle with that son of a bitch. Dan ran across the hallway shooting his machine gun at any soldier unlucky enough to not be hiding behind cover before making his way into an adjacent room.

The room he was in now was right next to the one the Colonel was in, and there was a whole in the wall that might as well have been a door way that lead right to him, only a few old wooden boards blocked it off. Dan took a running start at it before jumping through, crashing through the wood he rolled across the floor and raised his gun at the Colonel, it was perfect he was alone and hadn't even reached for his side arm.

The Colonel froze and didn't move from where he was. He just looked at Dan before suppressing a laugh then saying, "You can't shoot me Dan, I was that father you never had right?" Dan didn't move, only winced a little at his worlds. "Just drop the gun, drop the gun and join us Dan."

"From what I see it doesn't look like you're on the winning team mate." Dan retorted.

The Colonel shrugged. "With your help we can win, come on Dan, help me out. Son."

Dan didn't move, then he slowly lowered is weapon, then he dropped the machine gun all together. Colonel White just smiled triumphantly and approached Dan wrapping his arms around his 'son' in a fatherly embrace. "You've made me proud son…"

"I'm so sorry…" Dan whispered. The Colonel's eyes widened and he slowly tried to say something but only made a choking sound. He stepped back, still croaking, and looked down at his stomach. A KA-BAR was sticking out of his middle. He dropped onto his knees, blood slowly beginning to drip from the corners of his mouth.

Dan looked down at this man he used to admire and finished, "But my dad, my real dad, wasn't a fucking traitor." Dan then pulled out his berretta and shot the Colonel point blank in the head. It was quick and painless, a soldier of his caliber had merited that much. Dan never really minded killing people, it was always natural to him, but he couldn't help but feel sad over this one. He scooped up his machine gun and walked back into the battle, his friends needed him.

John delivered a strong punch to Mason's ribs, knocking the wind out of him. John may not have done well during their knife fight. But he was doing even better in the hand to hand area, an area that John specialized in. John grabbed hold of Mason's collar and stood him up right. He punched him once in the jaw. He stood him up against and reared back his fist to punch him one more time when just then a sudden spasm of pain struck through him, with the epicenter being his heart.

John stumbled back in pain grabbing his chest and wheezing. _Not now_, he thought, _for the love of Christ not now! _His adrenaline was wearing off and his body couldn't handle all the drugs that had been put in it, he was starting to feel pain again. John looked up just in time to see Mason's fist collide with his face. John stumbled back some more and threw a half-assed punch at Mason that he easily dodged.

Mason grabbed hold of John from behind and threw him up against the wall. Mason kicked the back of John's knees and forced him onto his knees while Mason grabbed a handful of his hair and smashed his face repeatedly against the wall, leaving a bloody red spot. John was thrown down to the ground and he lay there in his pain, while Mason walked over to where John's KA-BAR had fallen and picked it up.

"I have to admit," Mason said as he spat some blood out, "You have put up an admirable fight, but I have a pressing appointment and I need you dead." Mason knelt down next to John and raised the knife up high and said before bringing it back down, "Time to die Johnny."

He brought the knife down fast and hard but just then something he hadn't anticipated happened. A sudden shot of strength shot through John and he caught Mason's knife hand at the last minute. The two remained there, struggling with the knife as Mason tried to push down and John struggled to move it away. In the end John's strength gave out and the knife came down, but he had made sure that the knife didn't strike his heard and instead he redirected it into his own shoulder.

John howled out in pain but now he had Mason where he needed him. John slammed his forehead into Mason's nose and then kicked Mason off of him. John sat up and pulled the knife out of his shoulder, crying out in agony the whole time. But when it was out he slashed Mason along his right thigh, forcing him onto the ground. John tossed the knife aside, he didn't want to kill Mason, just hurt him really bad. John slammed his fist in Mason's right eye and knocked him to the ground.

John than sat on top of Mason as he pummeled his face into the ground. John must have hit him a dozen times before John finally stood up and pointed down at his defeated enemy saying, "Now… Don't… Don't… Get… I mean… Stay down you… son of a… bitch…" the he collapsed.

All of John's strength was depleted and now he let himself slouch against the side of one of the walls, he was done fighting now all he wanted to do was sleep. John struggled to stay away out of fear that if he did he would not awaken again.

_You can't let your friends down, you can't let her down. Wait… who do I mean by her. Kate or Raven? _He knew it was an odd thought to have while he might be dying but he remembered Raven above all other things while he lay there, struggling to stay conscious. He remembered her rare but wonderful smile, her knockout figure, those beautiful deep eyes of hers, how she actually cared about him and tried to help him, and that kiss she gave him back in the interrogation room. _Raven. Definitely Raven._

"Sir the SWAT have overrun the building," a man said as he walked into the room, "we should leave imm…" He froze when he saw his employer lying in a bloody heap on the ground. And the man who must have done it to him, looked like he was dead too. He rushed over to Mason and picked him up, slinging one of Mason's arm around his shoulder. A half-conscious Mason glanced back at John before his mercenary carried him out of the building. This wasn't over yet he promised him silently, not yet it wasn't.

Robin drove his staff into a soldiers stomach and then hit him in the side of the head and threw a bird-a-rang at another, the dull center hitting him in the head and knocking him unconscious.

Dan appeared from behind the soldiers and immediately gunned down a few. The soldiers were running out of soldiers and soon they began throwing their weapons down, they started to surrender not just because they were fighting a losing battle but also because it seems Dan had advertised over the soldier's radio that the Colonel was dead. Fearing their leader dead some fought harder, others simply lost a reason to keep fighting and threw down their weapons. But soon the whole private army of Colonel White was either dead, unconscious, or hoisting a white flag.

Starfire blasted down another soldier before glancing around to see that the fighting had ceased and asked, "So, we are victorious?"

"Umm… Boo-Yah?" Cyborg said uneasily, this was over way to quickly, and he had a very bad feeling about things.

Raven looked around before asking, while trying to suppress the worry in her voice, "Wait… Where's John?"

"I thought he was with all of you." Dan said.

Raven reached out with her mind and she felt him, his mind was weak but he was there and close too, directly above her. She could feel how weak his aura was at it was disturbing, what had happened? Was he hurt? Did someone shoot him? She tried to hide the panic in her as she suddenly flew straight up and phased through the ceiling. She found him and he looked like he was dead, but he was still there, still hanging on. Good soldier boy.

"Hold on John!" She shouted at him, "Just hang on!"

"Did…" He coughed, "Did… we win?"

Raven nodded.

"Good…" He croaked quietly, he raised a hand and stroked her cheek gently, he might not get another chance. Then he closed his eyes and let the darkness take him. _See you on the other side Raven.

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_So what did you think? Did you like the fight scene between John and Mason, did you like the way the Colonel got his come-up-ance. Do you think I should really make a sequel even though I'd do it no matter what you say? you get the picture, review please. See ya. 


	16. Epilogue

Here we go, the final chapter of Titans Zero. It's been fun but if you've liked what you've read, wait for the sequel to come. I think you'll like it. Enjoy.

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Epilogue

_Beep… Beep… Beep…_ the same monotonous soun echoed through the room, _Beep… Beep… Beep…_ His eyes slowly opened and one thought flashed through John's mind, _Am I dead?_ No, but close, he was in a hospital room. It took a while for his head to clear before he realized that he was in the infirmary of Titans Tower. His mind slowly started to wake back up, then he looked down and saw a sight he loved.

Raven was fast asleep on his chest while he lay in his hospital bed. Had she spent the whole night by his side? What a sweet gal, even though she would never admit it. Her head lay gently on his chest, rising and falling with each breath he took. A single strand of hair had fallen loose and hung over her peaceful face. John lifted a finger and gently moved the strand back into place amongst Raven's short hair. Unfortunately it wasn't gently enough and she slowly woke up.

"Morning sunshine." John croaked, and for a moment Raven flashed that smile of hers at him but quickly returned to her normal looking self.

"I thought you were dead for a minute." She quipped.

"Well I'd come back from the dead just to see you again." He replied, she suppressed a blush at that because she knew he meant it.

Raven slowly leaned closer to John when John suddenly remembered what had happened before. "Wait a minute," he exclaimed, "Where's Mason? SWAT grabbed him right? What's his condition, I mean I did beat him pretty bad. Has he given up any of his clients? Did we apprehend the Colonel and the warhead? Did…"

"Whoa, whoa, slow down John." Raven said, "One at a time."

"Well, did we grab Mason or not?" John asked slowly this time. Raven hesitated to answer as she searched for the right words, but just then she was rescued from John's questions when Dan walked in.

"For God's sake Raven you've been here for hours," Dan said as he walked in with his eyes on a case file in front of him, "get some breakfast or tea or whatever the hell it is you have in the morning just leave the poor bastard for a while…" he stopped where he was when he looked up from the file and saw John was awake. "Holy shit! John!"

"Some poor bastard huh?" John said with a smile.

Dan walked up next to John by the bed and said, "My God mate I thought you were dead for a second there but look at you, conscious again and no brain damage either."

"Didn't think I was that bad." John said as he tried to sit up but found that not only was his whole body stiff but certain areas of his body like the shoulder where he had been stabbed still hurt like a bitch. He fell back on the bed, clenching his teeth in pain.

Raven eased him back into the bed and said, "Slow down John, you still haven't fully recovered yet. I managed to heal your external damage but your knife wounds left quite a lot of damage on your insides."

"Oh well," John said through clenched teeth as the pain gradually dulled, "We still have the warhead."

"That we do." Dan agreed.

"And the Colonel is in custody?" John asked.

"Actually," Dan said slowly and delicately, "I kinda… sorta… killed him."

John stayed silent and nodded before saying after a while, "You did the right thing Dan, he was fucking traitor and he would have gotten the death sentence anyway, you just sped things up for him and let him die with his honor intact." Dan nodded in agreement but still said nothing. John then asked, "What's Mason's condition."

Raven didn't say anything but Dan did when he asked, "What?" as if he didn't hear the first time.

"The warehouse was crawling with SWAT right?" they nodded, "So we got him right?"

Dan nervously scratched the back of his head before saying, "We never got a chance to arrest Mason Thorn…"

"WHAT?!" John shouted, "How?! We had him God damn it we had him! How the fuck did he…" He was cut short when he tried to sit up again but had to lay back down from the pain in his shoulder.

Dan quickly explained himself, "Him and his mercenaries were spotted heading into the basement of the warehouse, problem was there was a hole in a wall in the basement that lead into the sewers. After they slipped into the sewers the detonated an explosive attached to the roof of the hole causing a cave in that prevented us from following, after that we lost him and the trail went cold. We assume he's left the country a long time ago."

"How long?" John asked, he was greeted by awkward silence. "Wait a minute, how long was I out?"

Raven answered him in a cool manner even though she knew that John wouldn't react in the same way, "Three days."

It took all of John's will power to keep his emotions from exploding again and to make sure he wouldn't hurt himself again. "Three days? But… How? No way I could have been that bad right?!"

"John your wounds were so extensive and the poisoning in your blood was so bad that it's a miracle your not dead!" Raven exclaimed, "Severe trauma to your head, numerous cuts and knife wounds, ligatures to your fingers in your fists, blood poisoning from the torture you received, an almost overdose of adrenaline from both your shot and your own heart, and not to mention enough exhaustion to put you into a coma!"

"You were pretty fucked up man, even worse than when we found you after your torture session," Dan said, "The only reason your alive at all is thanks to this little lady for working her magic on you, if not for her you probably would have died!"

John was shocked into silence, he knew he was hurt pretty bad but not that bad. Jesus, he was a stone's throw away from death's door, once again thank God for Raven. He finally said, "Thanks you guys, for everything really, thanks." He paused before he continued in a business-as-usual manner, "Do we have any leads as to where Mason might be now?"

Dan's face brightened up as he laid the file on top of John's chest and said, "You're going to love this boss. We had a leak at the beginning of our stay here; well it seems the tables have turned. One of Mason's men has come forward offering his knowledge in return for a deal."

John glanced down but couldn't see properly, he slowly sat back up until he was sitting up fully and the pain was surprisingly minimal. He read the file slowly and a smile began to crawl onto his face in triumph, they had a lead.

"It seems word spreads quickly in the criminal underworld," Dan continued, "every single crime syndicate and terrorist network across the globe knows about Mason's spectacular failure and ass-whopping he received while trying to steal and sell the warhead and, here's the good part, they know it was his fault. He's the laughing stock of the criminal underworld and his clients and employees are beginning to doubt him, hence the traitor in his midst."

"Where's this guy who works for Mason?" John asked.

Dan hesitated before saying, "Bogotá, Columbia."

John glanced up for a second before saying, "Then call up the bosses in Washington and secure us a flight to Columbia, if Mason's got a traitor in Columbia than that's where he's going to be." Then, against the wishes of his two friends, John gingerly positioned himself properly then hopped out of the bed. He landed a little awkwardly, due to the fact that he had been asleep for three days, and almost fell if Raven wasn't there to catch him.

John looked up into Raven's eyes and as she helped him up his feet fully they never broke eye contact.

"I'll…" Dan said awkwardly, "Just go and… Call up the bosses and uh… leave you two alone for a while." Dan then quickly walked out of the infirmary and closed the door behind him, leaving the two alone.

John couldn't help but smirk at Dan's hasty retreat, then he turned back to Raven and said, "You know I still haven't repaid you…"

"For what?" Raven asked.

John slowly moved his face closer to Ravens, never breaking the contact between his eyes and Raven's. "This…" he whispered, then he gently but firmly kissed her. Raven didn't pull away or kiss back, she just sort of stood still, frozen in shock at the sudden kiss. John pulled away sensing that Raven didn't feel the same about him, "I understand." He said quietly, "I can understand if you don't…"

Then Raven did kiss him back, once again John's eyes widened in surprise, God this woman was unpredictable. John then slowly began to kiss her back. The kiss was gentle at first and slowly became more passionate. John smiled into the kiss, this was heaven.

* * *

Mason Thorn was thinking the exact opposite. He sat in a cold, dark, dirty, and small bedroom near the cargo hold of a large transport ship bound for Columbia. In fact, for Mason, this was hell. Every single waking moment, of every minute, of every hour, of the three days he had spent on that ship was filled with pain and agony.

Mason did have the luxury of being treated by the ship's doctor and being supplied a medicine cabinet's worth of pain killers, but he didn't have a beautiful witch to cast a spell on him and heal his wounds. Where John had been recovered to the point that he looked normal with only a few cuts and bruises and maybe a scar from where he had been stabbed with Raven's help, Mason looked hideous. The formerly handsome arms dealer's face was black and blue and swollen up with bruises, his ribs were cracked and broke, pain seemed to continuously shoot from his leg from where John had cut him. And it didn't seem to end, the pain never left him; the painkillers just dulled it.

A lesser man would have given up or would have let thoughts of revenge consume his thoughts, but Mason had other problems and he had to keep his head straight and level. His clients wouldn't touch him now, and worse yet he had an informer in his outfit in Columbia. And the reason for all of it? Because he was a sucker for his home and fair fights!

If he hadn't offered to sell the warhead back to the government, if he had taken the first opportunity he had and picked up John's gun and shot him when he had the chance none of this would have been happening. But no, it had happened and the whole world knew about his weakness and moments of honor. It had damaged his criminal image; he had spent years making the world think of him as a sick sadistic psychopath with a pension for keeping his word. Now they doubted his word, and the image he had worked so hard to build.

He had to do damage control, he had to win back the trust of his clients and associates, and the only way to do that was to kill the informer. And not by using one of his minions and assassin's either, he had to kill him personally, and prove he could be trusted and that he hadn't done that one thing all men like him fear: gone soft.

Soon he would be in Columbia, soon he would meet with his clients there to gain their support, soon he would have the informer buried in his own blood. The he would consider a little pay back.

* * *

John stared off into the distance, he was out of his previous hospital robe and back into his usual clothes: jeans, white shirt, and a light green jacket (and a sling for his still injured left arm). He now stood on the rooftop of Titans Tower and stared off into the southern horizon and across the vast almost endless ocean and into the setting sun. He could see that dark times were ahead, that he'd have to face Mason again.

He turned around and walked back towards Raven who stood in the doorway. At least he wasn't going to have to face him alone. He had the Teen Titans with him, he had Unit Zero with him, and the newly combined force they made together. The Titans weren't just going to let Mason escape and now the wanted to come with to Bogotá. They stood together united in one cause, this combination of Titans and Unit Zero; this Titans Zero.

End of Titans Zero

Look for the next installment:

Titans Zero: Justice For All

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Review please. See ya in the sequel! 


	17. AN

I'm leaving this chapter for reviewers after an annoyin and pointlist post by one. Here you go.

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Author's Note

Alright I'm leaving this note for one reason, apparently someone or a couple of people seem to be offended by the fact that this story's villain was an arms dealer and I allowed his character to be self-conscious of the damage his work did or that I didn't include information regarding the involvement of the world powers in arms dealing.

It's good that you want to get the information out there people but this is not a God damn wikipedia page, this is a story meant to entertain and not inform. This story is not here to supply you with information about gun running but about characters and their life story. So please, for the love of God, stop posting information about arms dealers on my reviews. Reviews are there so an author can learn how to perfect his story and writing, not to let people know about shit you can find in TIME magazine. I mean, the last 'anonymous' review was essentially the last words from the move "Lord of War".

So here's a deal. I'll try to keep my stories accurate but for the time being leave the reviews to be about the God damn story and no the God damn profession of ONE GOD DAMN CHARACTER! Please stop posting useless reviews that don't help me keep the story entertaining. Thank you for reading this post.

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There you are, please don't do the same to my other stories whoever you guys are. 


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